TT167    Prosser,  Charles  Allen 

B7P7        Study  of  the  Boston 

1915     Mechanic  Arts  High 
School 


(BDBW7Y  Of 
B/VERSMK 


A  Study  of  the   Boston   Mechanic 
Arts  High  School 

Being  a  Report  to  the  Boston  School  Committee 


BY 
C.  A.  PROSSER 

SECRETARY,  NATIONAL  SOCIETY  FOR  THE  PROMOTION  OF 
INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 


SUBMITTED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 
FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 
IN  THE  FACULTY  OF  PHILOSOPHY, 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


PUBLISHED   BY 


(Uollrgp,  (Eolurnhia  Itttiurraitu 
NEW  YORK  CITY 

1915 


A  Study  of  the   Boston   Mechanic 
Arts  High  School 

Being  a  Report  to  the  Boston  School  Committee 


BY 


jfc.  A.  PROSSER) 


SECRETARY,  NATIONAL  SOCIETY  FOR  THE  PROMOTION  OP 
INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 


SUBMITTED  IN  PARTIAL  FULFILLMENT  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS 
FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 
IN  THE  FACULTY  OF  PHILOSOPHY, 
COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


PUBLISHED  BY 

u/rurlirrn  (Cnllritr.  Columbia  Ituturnutu 
NEW  YORK  CITY 

1915 


HIS 


Copyright,  1915,  by  C.  A.  Prosser 


CONTENTS 

FOREWORD 5 

FINDINGS  IN  BRIEF 8 

FINDINGS 
I.  WHAT  is  THE  PURPOSE  OP  THE  SCHOOL  AS  DEFINED  BY  THE  SCHOOL 

COMMITTEE? 15 

II.   HOW  FAR  DOES  THE  AIM  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AGREE  WITH  THAT  OF  THE 

SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 19 

III.  HOW  FAR  IS  THE  SCHOOL  REACHING  BOYS  WHO  DESIRE  PREPARATION 

FOR  INDUSTRIAL  CAREERS? 23 

IV.  IS  THE  SCHOOL  GIVING  THE  KIND  OF  TRAINING  WHICH  THE  AIM  OF 

THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE  REQUIRES? 28 

V.  HOW  FAR  DOES  THE  SCHOOL  SUCCEED  IN  PLACING  ITS  PUPILS  IN 
THE  KIND  OF  INDUSTRIAL  EMPLOYMENT  INTENDED  BY  THE  AIM 
OF  THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 47 

VI.  CAN  THE  M.  A.  H.  S.  SERVE  AS  A  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  THE 

THE  ENGINEERING   COLLEGE  AND  AT  THE  SAME  TIME  REALIZE  THE 

AIM  OF  THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 48 

VII.    IS  THE  PER  CAPITA  COST  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUCH  AS  WILL  REALIZE  THE 

AIM  OF  THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 50 

VIII.    Is  THE   ADMINISTRATION   OF  THE    SCHOOL    SUCH   AS    TO    PROMISE   A 

REALIZATION  OF  THE  AIM  OF  THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 54 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

1.  As  TO  METHODS  OF  FINDING  THE  GROUP 59 

2.  As  TO  THE  TRAINING  TO   BE  GIVEN 61 

3.  AS  TO  EMPLOYMENT  AND  VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 62 

4.  AS  TO  EQUIPMENT 64 

5.  AS  TO  PART-TIME  INSTRUCTION 65 

APPENDICES 

A.  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL  AS  A  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR 

THE  TECHNICAL  COLLEGE 69 

B.  SUGGESTIONS  CONCERNING  THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY 73 

C.  SUGGESTIONS  CONCERNING  METHODS  OF  INSTRUCTION 81 

D.  SUGGESTIONS  AS  TO  IMMEDIATE  CHANGES  IN  THE  SCHOOL 82 

E.  ANSWERS  OF  THE  HEADMASTER  TO  THE  QUESTIONAIRE  WITHIN  THE 

STUDY 85 

F.  TABLES  SHOWING  OCCUPATIONS  OF  GRADUATES  OF  THE  MECHANIC 

ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL.  . .  .   106 


Contents 

G.  TABLE  GIVING  COMPARISON  OP  OCCUPATIONS  OF  GRADUATES  OP  THE 

MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL 108 

H.  SUGGESTIONS  AS  TO  DEVICES  IN  GETTING  HOLD  OF  PUPILS  DESIRING 

TO  BE  TRAINED  TO  BE  INDUSTRIAL  CADETS 109 

I.  COMPARATIVE   PER  CAPITA   COST  OF  MAINTENANCE   OF  VARIOUS 

BOSTON  HIGH  SCHOOLS  AND  VOCATIONAL  SCHOOLS Ill 

J.  TABLE  SHOWING  PUPILS'  INTENTION  CONCERNING  COLLEGE 112 

K.  POSITION  FOR  WHICH  GRADUATES  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH 

SCHOOL  OF  BOSTON  SHOULD  BE  PROPERLY  FITTED 112 

L.  QUESTIONS  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  HEADMASTER  OF  THE  MECHANIC 

ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL  AND  ANSWERED  BY  HIM  IN  APPENDIX  E 118 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  BOSTON  MECHANIC  ARTS 
HIGH  SCHOOL 


FOREWORD 

1.  Reasons  for  the  report. — This  report  presents  the  results  of 
a  study  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  undertaken  at  the 
request  of  the  Boston  School  Committee.     Its  aim  has  been  to 
determine  to  what  extent  the  school  is  effectively  performing  in 
the  school  system  the  purpose  intended  by  the  committee  of 
preparing  boys  for  advantageous  entrance  to  industry  on  the 
business  and  directive  side.     With  the  wisdom  of  that  purpose 
this  report  has  nothing  to  do. 

Owing  largely  to  the  rapid  development  of  industrial  educa- 
tion in  Massachusetts  during  the  past  few  years  and  a  changing 
conception  of  the  purpose  and  place  of  manual  training,  the 
aim  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  has  of  late  frequently 
been  called  in  question  and  several  investigations  have  been 
made  with  a  view  to  determining  just  what  kind  of  service  the 
school  ought  to  render  the  city  of  Boston  and  how  that  service 
can  best  be  performed.  The  first  of  these  studies  was  made 
by  Mr.  Arthur  L.  Williston,  director  of  Wentworth  Institute, 
and  the  second  by  the  business  men's  advisory  committee  for  the 
school,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Fish,  Alexander,  Burton,  Lindall, 
Green,  Ziegler,  Russell,  and  Kaven.  The  findings  and  recom- 
mendations of  this  present  report  are  compared  with  those  of 
the  two  previous  studies. 

2.  Scope  of  the  report. — This  report  is  concerned  with  these 
two  questions:  (1)  How  far  is  the  school  now  effectively  accom- 
plishing the  purpose  of  the  school  committee,  and   (2)  what 
changes,  if  any,  should  be  made  in  the  work  of  the  school  in  order 
that  it  may  better  accomplish  this  purpose. 

3.  Spirit  of  the  report. — It  should  be  understood  at  the  out- 
set that  this  investigation  has  been  undertaken  in  no  hostile 


6         A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

spirit  and  that  this  report  is  not  intended  as  an  indictment  of 
the  headmaster  and  the  faculty  of  the  school,  or  a  criticism  in 
general  of  their  efficiency. 

The  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  was  organized  in  1892  as  a 
manual  training  high  school.  An  early  report  of  the  committee 
in  charge  of  the  school  indicates  that  they  believed  it  should  be 
a  fundamental  purpose  of  the  institution  to  serve  as  a  high  school 
offering  systematic  instruction  in  the  mechanic  arts  and  draw- 
ing, and  that  preparation  for  the  engineering  college  was  also 
a  legitimate  part  of  its  work.  This  policy  has  been  consistently 
followed  since  the  founding  of  the  school  and  until  recent  years 
has  had  the  approval  of  the  sub-committee  in  charge  of  it,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  executive  officers  of  the  school  committee 
responsible  for  its  supervision. 

In  agreement  with  this  policy,  the  headmaster  and  his  as- 
sociates have  built  up  a  school  which  has  stood  in  the  front 
rank  of  similar  institutions  throughout  the  country.  Few 
schools  can  show  among  their  teachers  a  better  esprit  de  corps 
or,  on  the  part  of  their  pupils,  a  finer  spirit  of  manliness  and 
studious  attention  to  work.  Few  schools,  indeed,  possess  in- 
structors of  greater  teaching  ability  or  more  sympathetic  under- 
standing of  adolescent  boys.  Abundant  credit  should  be  given 
those  charged  with  the  administration  of  the  school  for  the  wis- 
dom, the  skill,  the  large  executive  ability,  and  the  incessant 
labor  necessary  to  develop  such  an  institution. 

In  recent  years,  however,  the  School  Committee  has  adopted 
a  change  of  policy  for  this  school.  It  is  with  the  administration 
and  development  of  the  institution  in  the  light  of  this  new 
policy  that  this  report  is  primarily  concerned. 

4.  Method  of  the  report. — In  making  this  study,  the  Boston 
School  Committee,  as  the  final  authority,  was  asked  to  state  the 
purpose  it  wished  the  school  to  accomplish.  The  effort  has 
been  made  to  test  the  school  by  this  aim.  To  a  very  large 
extent,  the  study  has  relied  upon  the  headmaster  for  information. 
This  information  he  has  always  been  very  ready  to  furnish  and 
the  findings  given  herein  are  largely  based  on  data  obtained 
from  this  source  and  included  in  the  Appendix  of  this  report. 
(See  Appendix  E.)  The  thanks  of  the  writer  are  due  the  head- 
master for  his  kindness  and  courtesy  in  giving  his  assistance  in 
this  manner.  The  data  from  the  school  office  were  supplemented 


Foreword  7 

by  a  number  of  visits  to  the  school  and  conferences  with  the 
members  of  the  faculty.  The  records  of  the  Boston  School 
Committee,  the  reports  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  and 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  and  answers  to 
printed  questions  by  students  both  of  the  English  High  School 
and  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  have  also  been  drawn  upon 
for  information. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  is  here  made  of  the  exceedingly 
valuable  information  and  helpful  suggestions  contributed  by  a 
number  of  persons,  particularly  by  Mr.  Arthur  Williston,  direc- 
tor of  Wentworth  Institute,  and  for  the  active  and  able  assistance 
of  Mr.  W.  A.  O'Leary,  director  of  Evening  Training  Classes 
for  Teachers  at  Pratt  Institute,  in  the  preparation  of  this  re- 
port. 


FINDINGS  IN  BRIEF 

1.  The  aim  of  the  Boston  School  Committee  for  the  school  is,  as 
has  been  stated,  the  preparation  of  boys  for  advantageous  en- 
trance into  industry  on  the  business  and  directive  side.     The 
Committee  has  said  it  is  not  the  function  of  the  school  to  pre- 
pare for  the  engineering  college.1 

2.  The  aim  of  the  school  itself  seems  to  be  at  variance  with  that 
of  the  School  Committee.     This  is  indicated  by  the  published 
reports  of  the  school  setting  forth  the  aim  of  the  course  of  study, 
the  course  of  study  itself,  the  statements  of  the  headmaster, 
the  text-books  used,  the  type  of  examination  given,  and  the 
character  of  the  instruction.     Instead  of  aiming  to  prepare  boys 
for  advantageous  entrance  into  industry  on  completing  the  high 
school  course,  there  is  every  evidence  that  the  controlling  aim 
of  the  school  is  to  give  boys  general  education  and  to  fit  them 
to  enter  the  engineering  college. 

3.  Some  of  the  students  of  the  school  wish  to  be  prepared  for 
industrial  careers  of  the  kind  contemplated  by  the  school  com- 
mittee.    Evidence  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that  less  than 
15  per  cent  go  to  higher  institutions,  and  that  a  fair  percentage 
appear  to  go  into  some  form  of  industrial  work. 

4.  No  attempt  is  made  to  select  boys  who  wish  to  be  trained  in 
accordance  with  the  stated  aim  of  the  school  committee.     There  is 
no  organized  method  of  reaching  such  boys  or  bringing  the 
school  to  their  attention  and  no  attempt  is  made  either  at  or 
before  the  time  of  entrance  to  determine  a  pupil's  purpose  in 
selecting  the  school  or  his  fitness  to  take  the  special  training  it 
is  expected  to  offer. 

5.  The  course  of  study  is  not  the  right  kind  to  give  the  training 
desired  by  the  school  committee.     It  is  too  abstract  and  too  far 
removed  from  the  practical  experiences  the  pupil  will  meet 


1  Throughout  this  discussion  the  term  engineering  college  will  be  used  to  mean  & 
school  of  college  grade,  like  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  or  the  Wor- 
cester Polytechnic  Institute,  offering  instruction  in  engineering  branches.  The  term 
will  be  used  as  synonymous  with  the  expressions:  the  technical  school  or  college, 
the  higher  scientific  school,  and  the  higher  technical  school. 

8 


Findings  in  Brief  9 

when  he  goes  into  industry.    The  academic  part  of  the  course 
is  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  any  general  high  school. 

6.  The  kind  of  instruction  is  not  that  required  to  prepare  boys 
for  industry. — The  shops  are  largely  organized  on  an  exercise 
basis  and  the  instruction  throughout  the  school,   principally 
owing  to  the  lack  of  correlation  between  shop  and  classroom, 
is  not  sufficiently  practical. 

7.  The  classes  are  much  too  large  for  efficient  work.     This  is 
especially  true  in  the  shops.     To  a  certain  extent  large  classes 
appear  to  have  been  a  conscious  policy  of  the  school  in  the  ef- 
fort to  keep  down  the  cost  of  instruction. 

8.  The  majority  of  the  instructors  of  the  school  are  well  qualified 
to  give  the  kind  of  instruction  required  by  the  aim  of  the  school 
committee.     Many   of  them   have  a  large  asset  of  practical 
experience  which  the  school  is  not  now  utilizing  to  best  advan- 
tage.    A  few  are  not  equipped  to  train  boys  for  industrial  pur- 
suits and  probably  cannot  acquire  the  necessary  qualifications. 

9.  The  shops  and  equipment  of  the  school  are  in  the  main  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  training  boys  in  accordance  with  the  aim  of 
the  committee.     The  shops,  however,  are  too  crowded  and  the 
shop  equipment  is  not  sufficiently  varied.     Some  of  the  equip- 
ment necessary  for  efficient  instruction  in  printing  and  the 
application  of  power  in  industry  is  lacking. 

10.  The  school  is  not  necessary  as  a  preparatory  school  for  the 
engineering  college.    The  English  High  School  is  preparing  nearly 
as  many  pupils  for  the  engineering  college  and  appears  to  be 
doing  it  at  least  as  well  and  probably  better  than  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School. 

11.  The  school  fails  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  85  per  cent  of  its 
pupils  who  do  not  go  to  the  engineering  college,  because  it  serves 
primarily  the  interests  of  the  15  per  cent  of  its  pupils  who  do. 

12.  The   headmaster   is   evidently   not   in   agreement   with   the 
School  Committee  regarding  the  purpose  of  the  school. 

SUMMARY  OF  RECOMMENDATIONS 

This  report  makes  the  recommendations  that: 

(1)  No  changes  of  any  kind  be  put  into  effect  before  Septem- 
ber, 1914. 

(2)  All  classes  now  in  school  be  allowed  to  graduate  on  the 
present  basis. 


10       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

(3)  All  changes  be  made  gradually  beginning  with  the  class 
of  1918. 

(4)  The  school  gradually  abandon  all  attempt  to  fit  for  the 
engineering  college  and  confine  its  instruction  to  preparing  boys 
for  industry  in  accordance  with  the  aim  of  the  school  committee 
given  herein. 

(5)  The  course  of  study  be  immediately  reorganized  for  the 
first  year,  according  to  the  suggestion  given  in  Appendix  D  and 
be  put  into  effect  in  September,  1914. 

(6)  The  whole  course  be  gradually  reconstructed  according 
to  the  suggestions  given  herein. 

(7)  Such  subjects  as  foreign  languages,  general  science,  and 
general  mathematics,  which  belong  to  the  field  of  general  edu- 
cation or  of  college  preparation,  be  eliminated  from  the  course. 

(8)  Suitable  agencies  be  established  for  finding  and  selecting 
boys  who  wish  to  be  trained  for  industrial  careers  and  who  have 
the  right  kind  of  interest  and  ability. 

(9)  The  shops  be  organized  on  a  commercial  basis. 

(10)  Instruction  in  the  shop,  the  classroom,  and  the  labora- 
tories be  more  closely  correlated  with  each  other. 

(11)  The  customary  use  of  text-books  be  largely  discarded 
and  the  materials  for  instruction  be  gathered  from  such  sources 
as  the  school  shops,  outside  plants,  and  trade  literature.     Ex- 
perience goes  to  show  that  instruction,  when  given  by  highly 
competent  teachers,  can  be  worked  out  much  more  pedagogically 
without  the  conventional  use  of  the  usual  text-book  which  should 
serve  as  reference  rather  than  as  lesson  plan. 

(12)  Visitation  to  industrial  plants  and  lectures  by  business 
men  and  experts  from  outside  plants  be  included  in  the  instruc- 
tion. 

(13)  All   instructors    be    required    to    have    some    industrial 
experience  as  a  qualification  for  service  and  those  who  do  not 
have  such  contact  or  cannot  acquire  it  be  gradually  transferred 
to  other  high  schools  and  replaced  by  those  who  do  possess  such 
qualification. 

(14)  Varied  equipment,  as  described  later,  be  added  to  the 
school. 

(15)  The  school  day  be  lengthened  to  7  hours  for  the  class 
of  1918,  of  which  not  less  than  six  shall  be  given  to  actual  in- 
struction. 


Findings  in  Brief  11 

(16)  The  number  of  pupils  in  shop  classes  be  reduced  to  not 
more  than  28  to  each  teacher. 

(17)  Shop  work  be  required  of  every  pupil  throughout  the 
course.2 

(18)  A  placement  bureau,  in  charge  of  a  vocational  counselor, 
be  established. 

(19)  The  course  be  so  arranged  that  boys  may  elect  drafting 
during  the  last  year,  or  may  specialize  in  some  one  industrial  field. 

(20)  Boys  who  discover  after  entering  the  school  that  they 
wish  to  prepare  for  the  engineering  college  be  transferred  to  some 
other  high  school,  and  it  be  the  duty  of  a  special  vocational 
guidance  committee  to  advise  concerning  such  transfers  and 
see  that  they  are  made  to  best  advantage. 

(21)  Part-time  courses  of  instruction  be  established  which 
will  enable  the  school  to  place  its  students  on  actual  industrial 
work,  while  taking  training  for  a  portion  of  their  time  in  the 
classroom,  and  which  will  enable  those  who  have  gone  to  work 
to  secure  through  the  school  the  further  preparation  they  need 

POINTS  OF  AGREEMENT  WITH  THE  FINDINGS  REGARDING  EX- 
ISTING CONDITIONS  DESCRIBED  BY  PREVIOUS  REPORTS 

The  findings  of  this  report  agree  with  those  of  Mr.  Arthur  Wil- 
liston  made  in  a  previous  report  in  every  main  condition,  and 
especially  in  the  following  particulars: 

(1)  No  adequate  system  is  maintained  for  selecting  boys  for 
admission  to  the  school. 

(2)  Preparation  for  the  engineering  college  is  the  controlling 
aim  of  the  instruction. 

(3)  Mechanical   branches   taught   do   not   furnish   adequate 
mechanical  training. 

(4)  The  small  per  cent  of  pupils  who  go  on  to  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning  can  be  cared  for  in  other  high  schools. 

(5)  The   teaching  of   many   subjects,   such   as   physics   and 
mathematics,  is  too  academic. 

(6)  Shop  work  is  not  sufficiently  practical  in  character. 

(7)  There  is  a  lack  of  correlation  between  the  work  of  shops 
and  classrooms. 

(8)  English  is  well  taught. 

« An  exception  should  be  noted  In  the  case  of  the  elective  course  In  drafting  In  the 
senior  year.  (See  p.  32.) 


12        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

(9)  History  is  not  sufficiently  industrial  in  character. 

(10)  Classes  are  too  large. 

(11)  Shop  instructors  are  required  to  teach  too  many  periods. 

(12)  Cost  of  instruction  is  abnormally  low. 

(13)  The  English  High  School  offers  better  preparation  for 
the  engineering  college  than  does  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

(14)  The  equipment  is  inadequate  to  train  for  industry  in  a 
practical  way. 

POINTS   OF   AGREEMENT   WITH   THE    RECOMMENDATIONS    FOB 
CHANGES  MADE  BY  PREVIOUS  REPORTS 

This  report  agrees  with  the  reports  of  Mr.  Williston  and  of  the 
Business  Men's  Advisory  Board  in  regard  to  the  following  recom- 
mendations. 

(1)  Systematic  plans  should  be  put  into  effect  for  reaching 
the  right  group  of  pupils. 

(2)  Only  those  qualified  to  profit  by  industrial  training  should 
be  admitted  to  the  school. 

(3)  The  school  should  give  up  all  attempt  to  prepare  for  the 
engineering  college. 

(4)  The  school  should  aim  to  prepare  boys  for  industrial 
vocations. 

(5)  All  instruction  in  foreign  languages  should  be  omitted. 

(6)  Work  in  pure  mathematics  should  be  reduced  and  instruc- 
tion both  in  science  and  mathematics  should  be  specialized. 

(7)  Shop  work  should  be  prescribed  for  everybody  through- 
out the  course. 

(8)  There  should  be  some  latitude  in  the  choice  of  course  in 
the  fourth  year. 

(9)  Classes  should  be  reduced  in  size. 

(10)  The  school  day  should  be  lengthened. 

(11)  A  placement  bureau  should  be  established. 

(12)  Records  should  be  kept  of  the  boys'  experience  and  suc- 
cess in  the  industry  after  graduating  from  school. 

(13)  More  shop  space  should  be  provided. 

(14)  The  equipment  of  the  shops  and  laboratories  should  be 
so  far  as  possible  such  as  would  be  found  in  the  shops,  tool 
rooms,  and  testing  rooms  of  commercial  plants. 

(15)  Arrangements  should  be  made  for  the  transfer  of  misfit 
pupils  from  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  to  other  schools. 


FINDINGS 


WHAT  IS  THE  PURPOSE  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AS  DEFINED 
BY  THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 

1.  Purpose  of   the    school    as  stated  by  the  Committee. — The 
School  Committee,  in  instituting  a  change  of  policy,  has  officially 
stated  the  purpose  of  the  school  to  be  "the  preparation  of  non- 
commissioned officers  of  industry."1 

2.  The  term  "non-commissioned  officer,"  as  just  stated,  is  here 
used  to  mean  a  subordinate  executive  or  assistant  on  the  busi- 
ness and  directive  side  of  productive  industry.     He  may,  for 
example,  be  a  detail  designer  or  engineer's  assistant  in  a  factory 
or  manufacturing  plant,  or  the  motive  power  department  of  a 
steam  or  electric  railway;  an  assistant  engineer  for  a  power  plant 
or  office  building;  an  inspector  for  a  factory  and  steam  boiler 
insurance  company;  a  salesman  for  the  sales  department  of 
factory  and  machine  houses;  a  tester  of  apparatus;  a  sub-fore- 


1  "The  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  is  designed  to  prepare  boys  for  industrial  ef- 
ficiency. Training  for  industrial  efficiency  may  be  of  at  least  three  different  kinds: 
(1)  That  which  fits  for  productive  skill  as  an  advanced  apprentice  looking  forward 
to  journeymanship  and  leadership  on  the  productive  side  of  industry,  such  as  is  rep- 
resented by  the  training  given  in  the  Boston  Independent  Industrial  School  for  Boya 
(Brimmer  Building)  and  in  other  all-day  schools,  of  the  same  type  together  with  part- 
time  and  continuation  schools,  yet  to  be  established ;  (2)  that  which,  by  the  advanced 
instruction  in  technical  colleges  like  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  fits 
for  technical  insight  giving  favorable  entrance  as  a  commissioned  officer  in  business 
and  industry,  looking  forward  to  leadership  on  its  technical  and  business  side;  sec- 
ondary school  preparation  for  such  technical  colleges  is  being  given  satisfactorily  by 
other  Boston  high  schools  and  according  to  previous  decisions  of  the  School  Com- 
mittee, is  not  hereafter  to  be  a  part  of  the  work  or  service  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High 
School;  (3)  that  which  aims  to  give  through  a  school  of  secondary  grade  both  the 
technical  knowledge  and  the  elementary  experience  in  certain  industrial  processes 
which  will  make  the  pupil  'industry  and  business  wise*  as  a  preparation  for  favor- 
able entrance  as  a  non-commissioned  officer  in  industry  looking  to  promotion  and 
leadership  on  its  business  and  directive  side. 

"It  is  the  belief  of  the  School  Committee  that  inasmuch  as  the  first  two  of  the 
different  kinds  of  training  for  industrial  efficiency  are  being  given  satisfactorily  by 
other  Boston  institutions,  the  purpose  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  should  be 
to  confer  the  third,  and  that  the  training  of  this  character  given  by  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School  should  moot  the  same  demand  in  industry  which  the  High  School 
of  Commerce  is  attempting  to  meet  by  fitting  boys  to  become  non-commissioned  officers, 
in  business  and  commercial  pursuits." — Statement  of  Boston  School  Committee  in  cor- 
respondence relating  to  this  report. 

15 


16       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

man;  an  assistant  manager  or  chief.  These  titles  carry  various 
meanings  in  different  industries,  but  in  general  this  type  of  em- 
ployment is  filled  by  a  subordinate  executive  rather  than  a  highly 
technical  expert.  A  very  suggestive  list  of  the  many  different 
kinds  of  positions  to  which  the  work  of  the  school  should  lead 
is  given  in  Appendix  K. 

The  non-commissioned  officer  should  know  the  general  pro- 
cesses, methods  of  production,  materials,  and  machines  of 
productive  industry,  as  well  as  shop  and  business  organization. 
He  need  not  have  the  skill  of  hand  of  the  trained  workman  or 
the  special  knowledge  of  the  technical  expert,  but  he  should 
have  an  appreciative  understanding  of  both  good  workmanship 
and  technical  knowledge. 

On  graduating  from  the  school  the  pupil  would  not,  of  course, 
be  ready  to  assume  immediately  the  leadership  for  which  he 
had  been  preparing.  While  his  training  should  enable  him  to 
make  advantageous  entrance  into  his  future  work  he  would  still 
have  to  acquire  the  expert  knowledge  of  business  and  industry 
and  the  judgment,  essential  to  leadership,  which  comes  only 
through  experience.  On  entering  business,  therefore,  he  might 
well  be  termed  a  novitiate  in  industry  who  is  looking  forward 
to  serve  as  a  prospective  officer  or  as  a  sub-engineer  of  industry. 

No  amount  of  schooling  or  technical  training  however  de- 
sirable and  excellent  can  take  the  place  of  actual  experience  in 
industry  itself.  Both  are  necessary.  The  pupils  in  the  school 
should  be  given  the  discipline  of  hard  work  as  well  as  a  knowl- 
edge of  how  to  work.  They  should  be  made  at  the  outset  to 
understand  that  much  straight  hard  work  in  subordinate  posi- 
tions lies  before  them.  The  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  should 
give  them  a  type  of  training  which  will  fit  them  to  go  out  into 
industry  with  enough  power  and  practical  usefulness  to  get  a 
good  start  with  the  prospect  always  ahead  of  advancement  in 
proportion  to  their  ability  and  effort. 

For  several  years  a  few  commercial  high  schools  have  been 
training  the  commercial  cadet  for  business,  leaving  largely  to 
the  private  business  college  the  task  of  preparing  the  skilled 
workers  in  the  ranks  such  as  bookkeepers,  stenographers,  and 
typewriters.  The  Boston  High  School,  of  Commerce,  for  ex- 
ample, is  definitely  engaged  in  training  boys  for  such  advan- 
tageous entrance  into  commerce  as  shall  enable  them  to  fill 


School  Committee's  Statement  of  Purpose  17 

eventually  subordinate  executive  positions  at  least  in  the  dis- 
tributive as  contrasted  with  the  productive  side  of  business. 
It  is  the  understanding  of  this  Report  that  the  School  Commit- 
tee desires  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  to  serve  in  a  similar 
way  in  the  preparation  for  advantageous  entrance  into  industry 
of  industrial  recruits,  who  shall  eventually  fill  subordinate  ex- 
ecutive positions  at  least  on  the  productive  side  of  industry. 

3.  The  statement  of  purpose  quoted  above  is  in  accord  with  the 
policy  adopted  by  the  School  Committee  several  years  ago,  with 
reference  to  the  purpose  and  administration  of  its  high  schools. 
That  policy  was  to  maintain  a  number  of  high  schools  like  the 
English  High  School,  the  Latin  Schools,  and  the  various  dis- 
trict high  schools,  whose  aim  should  be  to  give  general  prepar- 
ation for  life,  including  preparation  for  higher  institutions  of 
learning,  and  to  surround  those  schools  with  special  schools  like 
the  Boys'  Industrial  School,  the  High  School  of  Commerce, 
and  the  Girls'  Trade  School,  whose  aim  should  be  to  give  to 
particular  groups  special  preparation  for  specific  kinds  of  service. 
This  action  of  the  School  Committee  took  the  Mechanic  Arts 
High  School  out  of  the  class  of  general  high  schools  and  made 
it  a  special  school  and  gave  it  as  definite  an  aim  as  that  of  any 
other  special  school. 

4.  The  difference  between  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  and 
the  Boston  Industrial  School  for  Boys.     It  may  be  well  here,  for 
the  sake  of  clearness,  even  at  the  risk  of  prolonging  the  discus- 
sion, to  point  out  the  difference  between  the  aim  which  the 
Boston  School  Committee  in  the  foregoing  correspondence  has 
set  up  for  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  and  that  for  the  Boston 
Industrial  School  for  Boys. 

The  latter  school  is  intended  for  boys  who  desire  to  be  pre- 
pared to  enter,  as  advanced  apprentices  looking  toward  journey- 
manship,  such  skilled  trades  as  those  of  the  machinist,  carpenter, 
electrician,  and  printer.  The  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  is 
designed  for  the  boy  who  expects  to  enter  productive  industry, 
not  as  an  apprentice  to  a  skilled  trade,  but,  in  a  sense,  as  an 
apprentice  in  organization,  management,  or  both. 

Since  the  completion  of  an  elementary  school  course  is  not 
absolutely  necessary  to  a  fair  degree  of  success  in  the  trades, 
the  Boston  Industrial  School  for  Boys  does  not  require  a  common 
school  diploma,  its  entrance  requirement  being  the  ability  to 


18        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

do  the  work  of  the  school  successfully.  Since  the  callings  open 
to  the  graduates  for  which  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  pre- 
pares, are  of  a  higher  grade,  only  graduates  of  the  common 
school  are  admitted. 

5.  A  special  school  has  to  meet  certain  conditions  which  a  gen- 
eral school  does  not  have  to  meet  because  it  has  been  charged 
with  a  special  instead  of  a  general  duty.     It  must  secure  a  group 
who  want  the  particular  kind  of  instruction  the  school  has  been 
directed  to  confer;  it  must  give  its  pupils  a  training  which  ob- 
viously prepares  them  to  realize  the  aim  established  by  the  com- 
mittee; and  the  great  majority  of  its  graduates  must  show  as  a 
result  of  their  training  efficient  service  in  the  particular  field  the 
school  is  intended  to  serve. 

When  the  United  States  government  established  at  Anna- 
polis an  academy  for  the  special  purpose  of  training  officers  for 
the  navy,  it  became  the  duty  of  those  in  charge  of  the  institu- 
tion to  accept  for  training  only  those  persons  who  wished  to 
become  naval  officers.  Having  secured  such  a  group  it  was 
clearly  the  business  of  the  naval  academy  to  give  the  cadet  the 
kind  of  training  which  obviously  fitted  him  to  become  a  naval 
officer.  To  justify  its  existence  the  academy  at  Annapolis  must 
further  show  that  the  great  majority  of  its  graduates  actually 
enter  the  navy  and  that  they  continue  in  the  service  as  suc- 
cessful officers. 

6.  Four  tests  of  the  school:  The  answer  to  the  question  "How 
far  is  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  meeting  the  aim  of  the 
School  Committee?"   depends,   therefore,   upon  what  answers 
can  be  returned  to  the  further  questions: 

(a)  Is  the  aim  of  the  school  in  accord  with  that  of  the  com- 
mittee? 

(b)  Is  the  school  reaching  the  group  who  wish  to  be  trained 
for  industrial  careers  in  accordance  with  the  aim  of  the  School 
Committee? 

(c)  Is  it  giving  the  right  kind  of  training  for  this  purpose? 

(d)  Are  the  graduates  of  the  school,  on  the  whole,  going  into 
industry  in  the  kinds  of  positions  contemplated  by  the  Com- 
mittee in  their  statement  of  aim? 


II 

HOW  FAR  DOES  THE  AIM  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AGREE 
WITH  THAT  OF  THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 

1.  The  aim  of  those  charged  with  the  administration  of  the 
school  is  not  in  accord  with  that  officially  authorized  by  the 
School  Committee.     The  published  reports  of  the  school,  the 
statements  of  the  headmaster,  the  course  of  study,  the  char- 
acter of  the  instruction,  and  the  occupations  of  the  graduates 
all  show  this  to  be  true. 

2.  The  published  reports  of  the  school  give  its  aim  as  general 
education   rather   than   vocational   training.     The   first   report 
issued  in  1897,  four  years  after  the  school  was  opened,  states, 
in  effect,  that  it  is  not  the  controlling  aim  of  the  school  to  "give 
vocational  preparation,  but  an  all-round  education."1 

3.  An  examination  of  the  statement  just  quoted  shows  that  the 
school  never  specifically  aimed  to  prepare  boys  for  productive  in- 
dustry.    It  is  there  stated  that  the  primary  purpose  is  to  secure 
an  "all  around  development  of  the  pupil"  and  that  "the  train- 
ing which  it  gives  is  as  valuable  to  a  boy  who  is  to  become  a 
lawyer  or  a  physician  as  to  one  who  has  to  work  at  the  bench 
or  to  superintend  a  manufacturing  plant."     It  is  also  pointed 
out  that  "the  work  is  not  arranged  with  special  reference  to 
vocational  ends"  and  implies  that   preparation  for  profitable 
employment  is  regarded  as  a  by-product.     The  primary  aim  of 
the  school,  therefore,  so  far  as  it   can  be  gathered   from  the 
printed  reports,  is  not  vocational  training — as  is  intended  by 
the  School  Committee — but  general  education. 

The  revised  copy  of  the  report  of  1897,  issued  in  1903  and 
still  circulated  from  the  school  office,  phrases  the  aim  in  essen- 
tially the  same  words.  The  course  of  study  printed  in  1897  was 
slightly  modified  in  1903.  Except  for  the  substitution  of  ele- 


1  "While  the  primary  purpose  of  the  school  Is  to  secure  the  harmonious  develop- 
ment of  all  the  powers  of  the  pupil,  without  special  reference  to  vocational  ends,  the 
fact  is  not  overlooked  that  the  manual  dexterity  and  knowledge  of  mechanical  prin- 
ciples acquired  at  school  will  be,  for  many  boys,  the  immediate  stepping  stones  to 
profitable  employment." — School  Document  No.  Z.  1897. 

19 


20        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

mentary  science  in  the  first  year,  for  one-half  the  time,  formerly 
given  to  drawing,  there  has,  since  that  date,  been  no  change  in 
the  printed  course. 

During  this  period  there  have  been  pronounced  developments 
in  the  fields  of  secondary  technical  and  vocational  education, 
not  only  in  methods  of  instruction  but  also  as  to  the  aim  and 
content  of  the  courses  of  study.  With  this  development  there 
has  also  come  a  clear  distinction  between  manual  training  and 
vocational  education  and  a  new  understanding  of  the  function 
of  the  manual  training  and  the  technical  high  schools.  The 
fact  that  meanwhile  the  school  has  not  materially  changed 
either  the  aim  or  the  course  of  study  raises  the  question  of  how 
far  it  has  adjusted  itself  to  meet  the  changing  educational  thought 
of  the  times. 

If  it  be  objected  that  the  reports  referred  to  above  are  out  of 
date,  it  should  be  noted  that  they  are  still  distributed  from  the 
school  office  to  grammar  school  teachers  and  others  and  that  they 
contain  practically  unchanged  the  course  of  study  now  in  use, 
which  is  a  large  index  of  the  aim. 

4.  These  reports  give  preparation  for  college  as  a  large  aim  of 
the  school.     "The  primary  purpose  of  the  course  is  to  meet  the 
needs  of  boys  whose  school  life  is  to  end  with  the  high  school, 
but  it  also  provides  excellent  preparation  for  the  higher  scientific 
schools.     The  training  in  shop  work  and  drawing  enables  pupils 
who  enter  such  higher  institutions  as  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School  of  Harvard  University,  or  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  to  anticipate  equivalent  work  in  those  institu- 
tions, and  thus  gain  valuable  time  for  advance  courses."1 

5.  The  headmaster  of  the  school  admits  that  the  school  is  to  a 
certain  extent  a  general  high  school  offering  cultural  education  as 
its  dominant  purpose,  but  he  apparently  believes  that  the  aim 
and  course  of  study  as  contained  in  the  published  reports  just 
quoted  should  not  be  materially  changed.2 

1  School  Document  No.  2,  1897,  page  1. 

5  In  a  series  of  questions  submitted  to  him  as  a  part  of  this  study  among  others 
were  the  following:  (1)  Do  you  regard  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  as  a  general 
or  vocational  school?  (2)  If  it  is  a  general  high  school,  how  does  its  work  differ  from 
that  of  the  usual  high  school?  (3)  If  it  is  a  vocational  school,  for  what  vocations 
or  trades  or  occupations  does  it  fit? 

The  replies  to  these  questions  follow: 

"  The  curriculum  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  includes  many  of  the  branches 
usually  found  in  high  schools,  and  they  are  taught  in  the  same  way  except  that  de- 


Agreement  of  Aim  of  School  and  that  of  Committee       21 

6.  The  headmaster  believes  that  the  instruction  of  the  school 
should  prepare  boys  for  the  engineering  college.  It  seems  fair  to 
infer  from  his  answer  to  the  question  given  below  that  he  ad- 
vocates one  course  of  study  which  at  the  end  of  four  years  will 
enable  all  pupils  to  pass  successfully  the  entrance  requirements 
of  the  engineering  college.1  Nowhere  does  he  suggest  differen- 
tiated courses  of  study  with  different  aims,  but  rather  that  as 
"a  fundamental  principle"  the  institution  "should  be  properly 
articulated  with  the  schools  below  and  above  it"  so  that  there 
might  be  "movement  from  it  to  higher  institutions  of  the  same 
type" — which  he  declares  to  be  "fitting  and  logical." 

The  headmaster  also  presents  a  defense  of  the  policy  of  the 
school  as  a  preparatory  institution  in  the  way  in  which  it  has 
been  carried  out  in  the  past  and  attributes  the  falling  off  in 
attendance  to  the  action  of  the  School  Committee  in  declaring 
a  change  of  policy  as  regards  the  purpose  of  the  school.2  While 
it  may  not  be  fair  to  interpret  these  statements  as  fully  repre_ 


cidedly  more  emphasis  is  given  to  industrial  history,  and  to  the  practical  application 
of  science  and  mathematics.  The  subjects  peculiar  to  it  are  taught  so  as  to  give  sub- 
stantial knowledge  of  the  elementary  facts  and  applications  of  the  fundamental 
mechanic  arts.  This  curriculum  has  proved  singularly  attractive  and  inspiring  to 
many  boys,  and  has  given  very  valuable  general  culture  of  a  type  distinctively  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  results  from  the  standard  high  school  training.  To  the  ex- 
tent indicated  in  the  foregoing  it  is  a  general  high  school. 

"It  tends  strongly,  however,  to  arouse  interest  in  occupations  in  which  the 
special  training  of  the  mechanical  departments  can  be  utilized.  It  furnished  a  good 
preparation  for  a  large  variety  of  occupations  related  to  the  industries  and  in  which  the 
knowledge  of  drawing  and  mechanical  processes  are  important  elements  of  success. 
To  that  extent  it  is  vocational." 

1  To  the  further  questions:  "Do  you  believe  that  the  course  of  study  of  the  Me- 
chanic Arts  High  School  should  continue  to  serve  as  a  preparation  for  the  technical 
college  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  four  years'  course  the  pupil  could  meet  Its  entrance 
examinations?  If  so,  why?"  he  makes  the  following  reply:  "I  believe  that  one  of  the 
functions  of  the  school  should  be  to  prepare  boys  for  technical  colleges.  It  was  or- 
ganized in  1892  as  a  high  school.  A  fundamental  principle  of  that  organization  was 
that  it  should  be  properly  articulated  with  the  schools  below  and  above  it.  Move- 
ment from  it  to  higher  institutions  of  the  same  type  has  always  been  recognized  as 
fitting  and  logical. 

-  "That  an  intelligent  community  desires  the  continuance  of  this  policy  is  con- 
clusively shown  by  the  record  of  enrollment.  The  rapid  reduction  in  applications 
for  admission  and  hi  the  percentage  of  persistence  in  the  various  classes  since-  1909 
has  been  very  largely  due  to  the  announcement  by  the  School  Committee  of  the  in- 
tention to  make  a  radical  change  in  the  course  of  study 

"If  there  are  defects  of  organization  or  administration  they  should  be  remedied 
without  radical  changes  calculated  to  disturb  the  public  mind  and  give  the  Impres- 
sion that  the  school  has  not  accomplished  its  purpose.  The  records  show  clearly 
that  it  has  done  successfully  the  work  for  which  It  was  organized.  If  new  aims  are 
desirable,  in  view  of  changed  economic,  industrial,  or  social  conditions,  a  course  adapted 
to  meet  those  ends  should  be  developed  in  harmonious  relationship  with  existing 
work." — Reply  to  qucstionaires  by  the  headmaster. 


22       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

senting  the  position  of  the  headmaster,  they  at  least  indicate 
his  faith  in  the  purpose  and  work  of  the  school  as  it  is  at  present 
organized  and  a  lack  of  agreement  with  the  changes  proposed 
by  the  School  Committee. 

7.  Every  evidence  shows  a  variance  in  aim  between  the  work 
of  the  school  and  the  purpose  of  the  School  Committee.     It  is 
sufficient  to  point  out  here  that  such  things  as  the  presence  of 
certain  subjects  in  the  course  of  study,  as  for  example,  French, 
and  the  absence  of  certain  others,  such  as  economics  and  shop 
management;  the  specific  aims  in  the  teaching  of  the  various 
subjects  as  given  in  the  report  of  the  school;  the  high  per  cent 
of  academic  work  as  compared  with  a  low  per  cent  of  shop  work; 
the  non-commercial  basis  on  which  the  shop  work  is  organized; 
the  absence  of  business  and  executive  training — are  all  indica- 
tions that  it  is  not  the  conscious  aim  of  the  school  to  train  for 
executive  positions  in  productive  industry.     It  seems  fair  to 
say  that  where  students  achieve  this  aim  as  they,  like  the  gradu- 
ates of  other  schools  sometimes  undoubtedly  do,  the  result  is 
an  accidental  by-product  largely  dependent  upon  native  quali- 
ties. 

8.  In  view  of  the  evidence  presented  above,  the  writer  believes 
that  the  aim  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  is  essentially 
that  of  a  school  offering  to  its  pupils  a  general  education  of  the 
kind  given  by  the  English  High  School,  supplemented  by  a 
certain  amount  of  manual  training  of  the  conventional  kind. 
It  is  needless  to  point  out  here  how  far  this  differs  from  the  task 
of  preparing  those  who  wish  to  go  directly  from  this  school 
into  industry. 


Ill 

HOW   FAR   IS   THE  SCHOOL   REACHING   BOYS   WHO 

DESIRE    PREPARATION    FOR    INDUSTRIAL 

CAREERS? 

1.  A  special  school  always  means  a  special  group  of  pupils. 
This  fact  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized.     Certain  limita- 
tions and  standards  as  to  the  kind  of  boys  the  school  would  be 
expected  to  serve  are  set  up  when  the  School  Committee  estab- 
lishes as  the  aim  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  the  pre- 
paration of  "non-commissioned  officers  of  industry."     In  tak- 
ing this  action  the  School  Committee,  as  previously  suggested, 
has  in  effect  ruled  that  the  school  shall  accept  for  training  only 
those  boys  who  wish  to  be  trained  for  industrial  careers,  and 
who  have  the  ability  to  profit  by  such  training.     It  is  a  waste 
of  public  money  to  prepare  persons  for  work  which  they  will 
not  or  cannot  follow. 

2.  The  school  has  made  no  special  effort  to  get  this  kind  of  boy. 
No  machinery  has  been  set  up  for  his  selection,  in  spite  of  the 
very  strong  recommendation  to  this  effect  in  the  report  of  Mr. 
Williston.     As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the  aim  to  prepare 
for  industrial  careers  has  not  been  advertised  by  the  authori- 
ties of  the  school  as  a  controlling  purpose.     The  headmaster 
himself  admits  that  the  boys  have  been  admitted  to  the  school 
on  the  same  basis  and  through  the  use  of  the  same  methods  of 
selection  as  the  pupils  of  other  Boston  High  Schools1;  but  claims 


1  "The  choice  of  a  high  school  is  usually  made  in  the  light  of  such  information  as 
the  boys  and  their  parents  get  from  other  boys  who  have  attended  high  schools,  or 
their  parents,  supplemented  by  the  statements  of  the  principals  of  the  grammar 
schools. 

"As  the  decision  touching  from  300  to  600  boys  had  to  be  made  in  a  single  day, 
it  was  obviously  impossible  to  obtain  and  consider  adequately  the  data  suggested  by 
your  questions,  or  to  conduct  interviews  with  parents." — Replies  to  questionaire  by 
the  headmaster. 

"Since  September,  1907,  practically  all  boys  who  have  applied  for  admission  to 
the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  have  been  admitted.  From  1902  to  1907  inclusive, 
a  considerable  number  were  refused  on  account  of  lack  of  accommodation,  but  for 
no  other  reason.  .  .  .  Applicants  were  received  on  the  basis  of  general  records 
for  scholarships  in  the  grammar  school.  .  .  .  After  a  full  discussion  the  Com- 
mittee on  Manual  Training  of  the  School  Board  decided  unanimously  that  a  selec- 
tion on  the  basis  of  merit  as  determined  by  the  grammar  school  record  was  the  only 
definite  plan." — Replies  to  questionaire  by  the  headmaster. 

23 


24        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

that  to  a  very  large  extent  the  school  does  reach  the  boy  desir- 
ing to  be  trained  for  industry. 

3.  The  pupils  of  the  school  necessarily  enter  with  a  variety  of 
aims.    The  reasons  are  obvious.     Given  an  institution  whose 
controlling  purpose  is  to  afford  general  education  as  well  as 
preparation  for  the  engineering  college,  which,  like  any  general 
high  school,  admits  all  applicants  holding  a  grammar  school 
diploma,  and  which  offers  an  opportunity  to  take  in  addition  a 
course  in  manual  training  of  the  conventional  kind,  three  kinds 
of  students  must  inevitably  result:  (a)  Those  desiring  to  be 
fitted  for  the  engineering  college;  (b)  those  desiring  to  add  to 
a  regular  high  school  education  an  elementary  experience  with 
tools;  and  (c)  those  desiring  preparation  for  positions  in  indus- 
try. 

4.  The  presence  of  these  three  classes  of  students  in  the  school 
is  shown  by  the  statements  of  the  pupils  themselves,  as  to  their 
motive  in  taking  the  work.     One-half  of  them  at  entrance  ex- 
press an  intention  of  going  to  the  engineering  college,  although 
less  than  15  per  cent  ever  actually  attend  such  an  institution. 
The  fact  that  less  than  one  out  of  three  of  the  prospective 
students  of  the  engineering  college  ever  attend  it  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  some  of  them,  how  many  it  is,  of  course,  impossible 
to  learn,  gave  such  an  answer  without  any  very  serious  purpose 
to  support  it.1     Out  of  the  remaining  50  per  cent,  probably 
from  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent  desire  a  general  education 
with  manual  training.2     The  remainder  come  to  get  prepara- 
tion for  positions  in  industry. 


1  "For  a  series  of  years,  a  little  less  than  half  of  the  members  of  the  first  year  class 
declared  their  intention  of  going  to  a  technical[college;  probably  about  half  of  that 
number  have,  at  the  outset,  a  fairly  fixed  intention  of  taking  a  higher  course." — 
Replies  to  guestionaire  by  the  headmaster. 

Further  figures  obtained  through  the  school  office  in  1912,  given  in  Appendix  J 
of  this  report,  show  that  in  March  of  that  year,  of  the  total  number  of  pupils  hi  the 
school,  approximately  42  per  cent  reported  their  intention  of  going  to  college;  40 
per  cent  reported  they  were  not  going;  and  the  remainder  were  undecided.  In  the 
senior  class,  44  per  cent  said  they  were  going,  and  6  per  cent  were  undecided. 

2  Questionaires  as  to  their  future  occupation  and  their  motive  in  coming  to  the 
school  were  given  to  112  boys  selected  at  random,  the  method  being  to  take  boys 
whose  names  began  with  the  letter  S.     Of  this  number  approximately   40  per  cent 
said  they  intended  to  enter  the  Engineering  College  or  other  higher  institution  of 
learning,  or  that  they  chose  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  because  it  offered  prepar- 
ation for  such  institutions,  while  about  10  per  cent  were  undecided  as  to  whether 
they  intended  to  go  to  the  engineering  college.     Of  the  remaining  50  per  cent,  about 
one-half,  or  approximately  25  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  questioned,  apparently 
intended  to  go  into  productive  industry.     The  remaining  25  per  cent  had  evidently 


The  School  and  Preparation  for  Industrial  Careers       25 

This  estimate  seems  to  be  borne  out  by  the  replies  of  certain 
pupils  to  the  questionaire  described  in  the  preceding  footnote. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  these  come  to  the  Me- 
chanic Arts  High  School  largely  because  it  is  the  only  high 
school  in  the  city  which  promises  preparation  in  any  way  re- 
lated to  what  they  wish  to  do  on  leaving  school.  Less  than  one 
out  of  ten  of  these  have  any  intention  of  becoming  productive 
workers  in  the  trades  in  which  the  school  offers  a  little  elemen- 
tary instruction,  such  as  those  of  the  machinist,  carpenter,  pat- 
tern maker,  and  blacksmith,  and  the  number  who  follow  such 
callings  may  be  regarded  as  negligible.  Indeed,  an  examina- 
tion of  the  table  giving  a  comparison  of  the  occupations  of 
graduates  of  the  school  and  of  the  English  High  School  would 
seem  to  show  that  on  the  whole  at  least  as  many  graduates  of 
the  latter  become  journeymen  workers  in  skilled  callings  as  of 
the  former.  (See  Appendix  G.) 

5.  The  records  of  the  pupils  after  leaving  the  school  confirm  the 
foregoing  statements  regarding  their  varying  aims.  Here  again 
it  has  been  impossible  to  secure  any  extensive  and  thoroughly 
accurate  information.  The  school  has  never  organized  a  place- 
ment bureau  or  kept  accurate  and  systematic  records  following 
up  the  careers  of  graduates  or  of  boys  who  drop  out  before  com- 
pleting the  course.  This  report  has  been  compelled  to  rely  for 
its  data  upon  certain  returns  made  by  graduates  to  the  head- 
master in  response  to  a  circular  letter  sent  out  in  1908  and  at 
class  reunions  since  that  time.  These  returns  are  necessarily 
fragmentary  and  unsatisfactory  and  can  be  relied  upon  only  as 
showing  general  tendencies  as  to  occupation  of  the  more  suc- 
cessful graduates  of  the  school. 

Approximately  four  out  of  every  ten  pupils  leave  before 
graduation.  It  should  be  said  in  passing  that  measured  by  the 
proportion  of  its  enrollment  which  remains  to  graduate,  the 
Mechanic  Arts  High  School  has  been  more  successful  than  any 
other  Boston  high  school.  And  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  if  the  aim  of  the  school  were  made  more  definite  this  per- 
centage would  be  still  higher.  There  is  absolutely  no  record  of 
any  character  at  the  school  concerning  the  40  per  cent  who 

come  to  the  school  for  a  wide  variety  of  reasons.  Of  this  group  approximately  10 
per  cent  Intended  to  go  Into  business  pursuits,  while  most  of  the  remaining  15  per 
cent  were  evidently  In  the  school  for  no  definite  purpose.  It  should  be  noted  that 
the  112  boys  composing  the  group  questioned  included  not  only  boys  in  the  first  year 
class,  but  also  boys  in  every  class  in  the  school,  some  of  whom  had  undoubtedly  been 
turned  towards  Industrial  life  by  their  experience  in  the  school. 


26        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

withdraw,  after  their  names  are  stricken  from  the  roll.  The 
headmaster  says  that  they  "generally  accept  whatever  employ- 
ment they  can  secure  without  much  regard  to  their  native  apti- 
tude or  training."  This  means  that  they  follow  the  usual 
employments  of  high  school  pupils  who  fail  to  finish  the  course. 

Of  the  60  per  cent  who  graduate,  less  than  one  out  of  four 
go  to  the  engineering  college.  The  remaining  three  out  of  every 
four,  on  finishing  the  course,  go  into  a  wide  variety  of  occupations 
of  the  kind  usually  taken  up  by  graduates  of  the  regular  high 
school.  A  comparison  of  the  occupations  of  graduates  of  the 
Mechanic  Arts  High  School  and  the  English  High  School,  who 
do  not  attend  the  engineering  college,  shows  that  they  distribute 
themselves  among  about  the  same  kinds  of  employment.  Nor 
does  it  appear  that  those  from  the  former  school  follow  very 
much  more  frequently  than  those  from  the  latter,  callings  either 
on  the  productive  and  distributive,  or  the  business  and  direc- 
tive side  of  industry.  (See  Appendix  G.)  Only  a  small  per 
cent  of  the  graduates  become  "non-commissioned  officers 
of  industry"  as  the  term  is  defined  by  the  School  Committee. 
Here  again  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  entirely  satisfactory  in- 
formation since  all  the  statistics  regarding  the  occupations  of 
graduates  gathered  by  the  school  deals  with  them  as  one  group 
and  therefore  makes  impossible  any  study  of  the  employments 
of  those  who  attended  the  engineering  college  separate  from 
that  of  those  who  did  not. 

It  is  only  fair  to  say  here  that  the  headmaster  of  the  school 
claims  "that  a  large  percentage  of  the  graduates  have  found 
employment  appropriately  related  to  the  special  training  which 
they  have  received."  The  strength  of  this  statement  depends, 
of  course,  upon  just  what  occupations  may  be  considered 
"appropriately  related"  to  "the  special  training  which  they 
have  received."  He  also  claims  that  "not  far  from  65  per  cent 
become  draftsmen,  electricians,  foremen,  superintendents,  and 
salesmen,  or  engage  in  some  other  occupations  more  or  less  con- 
nected with  the  industries."1  All  of  the  data  gathered  for  this 
report  seem  to  indicate  that  the  number  of  those  employed  as 
skilled  workmen  or  on  the  business  and  directive  side  of  pro- 

1  In  Appendix  J  of  this  report  a  partial  list  covering  some  90  occupations  is  given 
to  which  the  training  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  should  lead  if  the  aim  of  the 
school  committee  were  carried  out. 

In  Appendices  E,  F,  and  G  are  given  tables  showing  the  occupations  of  graduates 
of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  obtained  through  more  than  900  responses  to  a 


The  School  and  Preparation  for  Industrial  Careers        27 

ductive  industry  not  including  graduates  and  former  students  of 
the  engineering  college  in  any  capacity  is  nearer  35  than  65  per  cent. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Whatever  may  be  the  exact  figures  as  to  the  number  of  boys 
who  come  to  the  school  to  be  prepared  for  industry  on  the  busi- 
ness and  directive  side,  the  following  facts  appear  to  be  true: 

(1)  About  50  per  cent  of  all  the  pupils  who  enter  the  school 
do  so  with  a  more  or  less  vague  intention  of  being  prepared  for 
the  engineering  college,  but  less  than  one  out  of  seven  of  these 
ever  actually  attend  the  engineering  college. 

(2)  About  40  per  cent  of  all  the  pupils  who  enter  the  school 
fail  to  finish  the  course  and  so  far  as  after-employment  is  con- 
cerned go  the  way  of  the  usual  high  school  pupil. 

(3)  About  25  per  cent  enter  for  purposes  of  general  education 
with  manual  training.     To  this  number  must  be  added  certain 
others  who,  on  entering,  intended  to  prepare  for  the  engineering 
college,  but  during  their  course  have  abandoned  this  purpose. 

(4)  About  25  per  cent  of  each  entering  class  wish  to  be  pre- 
pared for  some  form  of  productive  industry.     To  this  number 
must  be  added  those  who  enter  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  for 
the  engineering  college,  but  later  go  into  industry. 

(5)  From  the  standpoint  of  the  aim  of  the  School  Committee 
to   use   the   school   for  preparation  for  industrial  careers,  the 
institution  has  been  not  more  than  from  25  to  35  per  cent  suc- 
cessful in  reaching  the  kind  of  boys  desiring  this  training. 

(6)  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  unquestionably  true  that  a  large 
proportion  of  all  the  boys — including  many  who  aspire  to  the 
engineering  college,  many  who  fail  to  finish,  many  whose  pur- 
pose for  lack  of  accurate  knowledge  now  appears  to  be  general; 
and  also  including  all  of  the  25  per  cent  who  indicate  industrial 
aims — would,  if  the  school  had  a  more  definite  and  clearly  de- 
fined industrial  aim,  find  their  own  more  or  less  indistinct  and 
indefinite   industrial   ambition   crystallized  and  would,    conse- 
quently,  cordially  welcome  an  opportunity  for  an   intensive 
industrial  training. 

questlonalro  sent  out  by  the  school  office  to  all  graduates.  While  the  method  Is  not 
sufficiently  extensive  or  the  data  so  classified  as  to  warrant  hard  and  fast  conclusions 
It  seems  only  fair  to  point  out  that  according  to  these  returns  not  more  than  about 
14  of  these  90  occupations  are  now  being  followed  at  all  by  the  graduates  of  the  school 
who  do  not  attend  an  engineering  college,  and  that  not  more  than  about  20  were  being 
followed  by  all  graduates.  It  is  to  be  further  noted  than  an  examination  of  Ap- 
pendix G  will  show  that  about  13  of  these  occupations  are  being  followed  by  gradu- 
ates of  the  English  High  School,  as  shown  by  808  responses. 


IV 

IS  THE  SCHOOL  GIVING  THE  KIND  OF  TRAINING 

WHICH  THE  AIM  OF  THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE 

REQUIRES? 

THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY 

1.  When  the  School  Committee  set  up  a  special  aim  for  the 
Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  it,  in  effect,  directed  that  the  course 
of  study  should  be  such  as  to  insure  the  efficient  training  of  those 
who  go  directly  from  the  high  school  into  industry.     This  action 
limits  the  instruction  to  this  specific  purpose,  predetermines  a 
certain  kind  of  course,  and  automatically  excludes  all  subjects 
that  do  not  directly  contribute  towards  this  particular  aim. 

2.  The  course  of  study  printed  in  the  school  report  is  not  the 
right  kind  of  course  to  give  the  training  contemplated  by  the 
School  Committee.     In  order  to  understand  in  what  respects  the 
present  curriculum  fails  to  meet  the  aim  of  the  Committee,  it 
is  first  necessary  to  determine  what  training  for  industry  should 
be. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  as  "a  non-commissioned 
officer"  he  is  to  be  concerned  with  production  on  the  business 
and  directive  side.  His  training  should  include  instruction 
along  two  general  lines:  viz.,  methods  of  production  in  industry 
and  business  practice  and  organization  as  applied  to  manu- 
facturing. 

Training  on  the  productive  side  should  be  largely  given 
through  shop  practice  and  should  include  instruction  in  the 
tools,  machines,  materials,  and  processes  employed  in  manu- 
facturing plants;  shop  organization;  the  economics  of  produc- 
tion; and  the  applications  of  science,  mathematics,  and  drawing 
to  manufacturing  and  mechanical  work. 

Neither  extreme  productive  capacity  nor  extreme  technical  ability 
should  be  the  aim  of  this  part  of  the  training  of  the  pupil.  It 
is  not  the  purpose  of  the  school  to  turn  out  prospective  skilled 
mechanics  in  metal,  wood,  electricity,  or  any  other  industry, 

28 


Kind  of  Training  29 

nor  to  train  technical  experts,  such  as  a  designer  for  a  cotton 
mill  or  a  chemist  for  a  rolling  mill,  but  rather  to  send  out  young 
men  who,  through  shop  experience  and  instruction  in  at  least 
a  few  typical  industries,  have  gained  an  intelligent  idea  of  the 
methods  of  manufacturing  establishments  so  far  as  these  can  be 
profitably  learned  by  a  high  school  boy. 

On  the  business  and  directive  side,  the  training  should  aim  to 
make  the  pupil  "business-wise"  in  the  affairs  of  industry.  To 
this  end,  the  course  should  include  instruction  in  the  elemen- 
tary principles  of  business  procedure,  business  organization, 
applied  economics  and  the  practical  applications  of  science, 
mathematics,  drafting,  and  English,  as  these  subjects  enter 
into  the  business  transactions  of  a  manufacturing  or  a  con- 
struction business. 

As  a  future  worker  in  industry  and  a  citizen,  the  pupil  should 
understand  his  social  and  civic  rights  and  responsibilities  and 
should  know  and  have  an  intelligent  interest  in  the  way  the 
city,  state,  and  nation  carry  on  the  business  of  government. 
Instruction  in  the  practical  affairs  of  citizenship  should,  there- 
fore, be  included  in  the  curriculum. 

3.  The  present  course  of  study  for  the  school  as  obtained  from 
the  headmaster  follows: 

PRESENT  COURSE  OF  STUDY  FOR  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH 
SCHOOL,  1913-14 

FIRST  YEAR 

Periods  per  Week  Mos. 

Algebra 5  10 

General  History 2^  10 

English 2H  10 

Elementary  Science 2H  6 

Drawing 2J4  10 

Carpentry 2J^  7 

Wood-carving 10  3 

SECOND  YEAR 

Periods  per  Week  Mos. 

Algebra 2^  10 

Plane  Geometry 5  10 

History  of  the  U.  S.  and  Civil  Government 2>i  10 

English 2J^  10 

French 2^  10 


30        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

Drawing 21A  10 

Wood-turning  and  Pattern-making 10  5 

Forging 10  5 

THIRD  YEAR 

Periods  per  Week          Mos. 

Solid  Geometry 5  6 

Plane  Trigonometry 6  5 

Physics 2*A  10 

English 2%  10 

French 6  10 

Drawing 2%  10 

Machinist's  work — with  hand  tools  mainly 5  3 

With  machine  tools  mainly 5  7 

FOURTH  YEAR 

Trigonometry:  Applications  to  physics,  surveying,  and 

navigation 2%  10 

Physics,  laboratory  work 2^  10 

Chemistry 5  10 

Algebra 2^  10 

Geometry 5  10 

History  of  the  United  States 2^£  10 

English 2%  10 

French , .  5  10 

German 5  10 

Drawing 2%  10 

Machine  shop  practice,  and  projects  involving  the 

shop  work  of  preceding  years 10  10 

4.  The  course  of  study  recommended  by  this  report  is  as  follows: 

PROPOSED   COURSE 

FIRST  YEAR 

Periods  per  Week          Moa. 

Applied    Mathematics 5  10 

Shop  Arithmetic,  dealing  with  practical  shop  prob- 
lems along  the  lines  indicated  in  Appendix  D,  pages 
73-74,  and  leading  into  Elementary  Algebra.  Ap- 
plied Geometry  of  an  elementary  character  such  as 
grows  out  of  the  arithmetic,  drawing,  or  shop  courses. 

English 5  10 

The  work  in  English  is  described  on  pages  79-81 
To    alternate    every    other    day    or  week    with 
Citizenship. 


Kind  of  Training  31 

Citizenship 5  10 

The  work  in  Citizenship  is  described  on  pages  75-76. 
To  alternate  every  other  day  or  week  with  English. 

Science 5  10 

Simple  mechanics  and  the  properties  of  materials 
to  be  taught  through  laboratory  methods  in  double 
periods  every  other  day,  alternating  with  mechanical 
drafting.  See  statement  regarding  the  work,  page 
76. 

Mechanical  and  Free  Hand  Drafting 5  10 

Practical  shop  drawing  to  be  given  in  double  per- 
iods every  other  day,  alternating  with  science  labor- 
atory. 
Shop  Work  and  Carpentry 10  to  15  10 

30  to  35 

SECOND  YEAR 

Periods  per  Week        Mos. 

Applied    Mathematics 6  10 

A  continuation  and  extension  of  the  course  in  first 
year  in  accordance  with  the  suggestions  outlined  on 
page  76  to  77  of  Appendix. 

English 5  10 

Alternating  every  other  day  or  week  with  history. 
Industrial  and  Economic  History  of  New  England  and 

the  United  States 5  10 

As  discussed  in  Appendix  B,  page  74.  To  al- 
ternate every  other  day  or  week  with  English. 

Applied  Science 5  10 

With  special  reference  to  the  industrial  uses  of 
heat,  light,  and  power,  as  discussed  in  Appendix  B, 
page  76.  To  be  given  in  double  periods  every  other 
day,  alternating  with  mechanical  drafting. 

Mechanical  Drafting 5  10 

Alternating  with  the  science  work  in  double  per- 
iods every  other  day. 
Shop  Work— Forging  and  Patternmaking 10  to  15  10 

30  to  35 
THIRD  YEAR 

Periods  per  Week        Mos. 

Applied  Mathematics 5  10 

English 5  10 

Alternating  every  other  day  with  history. 


32       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

History 5  10 

A  presentation  of  the  world's  progress  with  special 
and  constant  reference  to  the  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic causes  and  factors  involved.  Alternating 
every  other  day  with  English,  see  page  74. 

Applied  Science 5  10 

Industrial  Chemistry  and  the  strength  of  materials 
— taught  in  double  periods  every  other  week,  altern- 
ately with  mechanical  drafting. 

Mechanical  Drafting 6  10 

Taught  in  double  periods  every  other  week,  altern- 
ating with  science. 

Shop  Work 10  to  15  10 

Machine  shop  practice  and  machine  construction 

30  to  35 
FOURTH  YEAR 

Periods  per  Week        Mos. 

General  Mathematics 5  10 

Organizing,  systematizing,  and  advancing  the  ap- 
plied mathematics  of  previous  years  with  constant 
applications  of  principles  to  practical  work. 

English 5  10 

Alternating  every  other  day  with  economics. 

Economics  and  Organization 5  10 

Economics  based  on  the  background  of  economic 
history  previously  taught  and  dealing  with  economic 
law  and  its  application  to  modern  day  industrial 
problems  as  discussed  in  Appendix  B,  page  74.  Or- 
ganization to  deal  with  practices  in  business,  shop,  and 
organization  as  discussed  in  Appendix  B.  Economics 
and  organization  twenty  weeks  each.  The  two  as 
one  course  alternating  every  other  day  or  week  with 
English. 

General  Science 5  10 

Unifying  and  organizing  the  results  of  the  labora- 
tory work  and  practical  experience  of  previous  years 
and  giving  more  advanced  instruction  of  a  quanti- 
tative character  in  mechanics,  industrial  chemistry, 
and  power.  Double  periods  every  other  day. 

Mechanical  Drafting 6  10 

Taught  in  double  periods  every  other  day. 

Shop  Work 10  to  15  10 

The  pupils  should  be  offered  a  choice  of  a  year's 
work  from  any  one  of  the  following  courses,  or  from 
as  many  as  are  desired:  architectural  construction; 
machine  construction  and  tool  making;  advanced 
woodwork  and  pattern  making;  electrical  industries, 
including  power. 

30  to  35 


Kind  of  Training  33 

5.  A  comparison  of  the  two  above  courses  of  study  reveals  the 
following  points  of  difference1: 

(a)  While  both  courses  offer  instruction  in  such  subjects  as 
English,    mathematics,    science,    history,    shop    practice,    and 
civics,  the  aims,  contents,  underlying  pedagogical  theories,  and 
methods  differ  widely,  as  has  already  been  suggested,  and  will 
be  further  shown  in  this  report. 

(b)  The  present  course  of  study  offers  instruction  in  the  fol- 
lowing subjects  not  included  in  that  proposed  by  this  report: 

(1)  French. 

(2)  German. 

(3)  General  college  preparatory  courses  in  such  subjects  as 

mathematics,  science,  and  English. 

However  important  instruction  in  these  subjects  may  be  as 
part  of  a  general  education  or  as  preparation  for  college,  they 
have  no  more  to  do  with  the  business  of  manufacturing  than 
have  Latin,  Greek,  or  any  other  cultural  subject  and  do  not 
belong  in  the  curriculum  of  a  special  school  whose  aim  is  to  train 
prospective  officers  of  industry. 

The  differences  between  the  general  courses  of  mathematics 
and  science  now  offered  in  the  school  and  the  special  courses 
herein  recommended  have  already  been  referred  to  and  are 
further  discussed  in  the  following  paragraphs.  Wood-turning, 
carving,  and  many  other  parts  of  the  shop  work,  also  in  the 
present  course  of  study,  have  no  place  in  the  course  if  the  school 
is  to  accomplish  the  Committee's  aim. 

(c)  The  present  course  does  not  give  instruction  in  the  follow- 
ing subjects: 


1  The  proposed  course  of  study  given  above  is  one  which  the  writer,  after  careful 
consideration  of  the  possible  resources  of  the  school  and  the  problems  to  be  met 
believes  to  be  the  most  feasible  scheme  at  the  present  time.  At  the  same  time  he 
desires  to  point  out  that  this  course  is  not  a  complete  and  final  solution.  It  must, 
of  course,  be  modified  and  improved  by  experience  and  to  meet  changing  conditions. 
If  the  school  were  just  being  established  with  ample  resources  at  its  command,  a 
better  training  for  industrial  careers  could  readily  be  devised,  which,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  report,  would  contain  among  other  changes,  such  features  as  the  following: 
( l)  A  longer  school  day,  of  not  less  than  seven  net  hours  of  instruction ;  (2)  more  time 
devoted  to  shop  work,  not  less  than  three  hours  per  day;  (3)  smaller  shop  classes, 
not  more  than  twenty  to  the  instructor;  (4)  instruction  in  the  electrical  industries  in- 
cluding the  applications  of  power  at  least  equal  in  the  amount  of  time  and  equip- 
ment to  that  now  proposed  for  each  of  the  various  shop  courses;  (5)  instruction  in 
foundry  work. 


34       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

(1)  Business  practice. 

(2)  Business  organization. 

(3)  Applied  economics. 

(4)  Shop  organization. 

(5)  Problems  in  applied  citizenship. 

Instruction  in  these  subjects,  it  has  already  been  pointed  out, 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  kind  of  training  which  the  School 
Committee  wishes  the  school  to  give.  Although  civics  is  in- 
cluded in  the  course  of  study  given  in  the  school  report,  instruc- 
tion in  this  subject  follows  the  usual  high  school  treatment  and 
is  not  the  kind  of  course  recommended  in  this  report.  Sugges- 
tions concerning  the  character  of  the  course  in  civics  are  to  be 
found  in  Appendix  B  (page  75). 

(d)  The  controlling  aim  of  the  curriculum  recommended  in  this 
report  is  to  fit  for  profitable  employment  and  responsibility  in 
industry,  and  each  subject  should  be  made  to  contribute  directly 
to  that  end.  The  aim  of  the  course  in  mathematics,  for  ex- 
ample, should  be  to  enable  the  pupil  to  use  mathematics  in 
solving  the  practical  problems  that  he  will  meet  in  the  business 
of  industry;  the  course  in  drawing  should  aim  to  teach  him 
to  interpret  intelligently  mechanical  drawings  as  they  are  used  in 
the  industrial  world  and  to  make  sketches  and  working  drawings 
for  commercial  purposes;  the  aim  of  the  course  in  science  should 
be  to  equip  the  pupil  with  the  knowledge  and  habit  of  scientific 
method  as  applied  to  industrial  processes;  and  the  shop  work 
should  aim  to  give  him  as  a  consumer  an  insight  into  commercial 
shop  processes,  shop  organization  and  management,  which  shall 
enable  him  to  make  practical  use  of  such  information  in  solving 
the  problems  of  his  future  work. 

In  contrast  to  these  aims  are  those  for  the  different  subjects 
included  in  the  present  course,  as  given  in  the  school  report.  It 
is  there  stated  that  "The  main  purpose  of  the  mathematical 
course  is  to  train  pupils  to  habits  of  accuracy  in  thought  and 
expression,  and  to  give  them  clear  notions  of  the  value  and  con- 
venience of  mathematical  processes  in  the  investigation  of 
practical  problems."  In  both  physics  and  chemistry,  the  aim 
of  the  instruction  is  "to  awaken  interest  in  scientific  pursuits, 
and  lay  a  good  foundation  for  subsequent  work." 

In  speaking  of  the  aim  of  the  mechanical  work  the  school 
report  says,  "It  is  the  aim  of  the  mechanical  department  to 


Kind  of  Training  35 

teach  in  a  thorough  and  systematic  way,  the  elements  of  car- 
pentry, joinery,  wood-carving,  wood-turning,  pattern-making, 
forging  of  iron  and  steel,  chipping,  filing,  fitting,  and  machine 
tool  work."  At  another  point  it  is  stated  that  "the  training 
school  .  .  .  teaches  the  elements  of  mechanic  arts  primarily 
on  account  of  their  educational  value,  just  as  arithmetic  and 
geometry  are  taught." 

These  aims,  in  common  with  the  general  aims  discussed  in 
an  earlier  part  of  this  report,  are  aims  of  general  education. 
Nowhere  is  there  any  specific  statement  of  purpose  relating  to 
the  various  subjects  given  in  the  course  of  study  which  indi- 
cates that  any  subject  is  included  because  of  its  vocational 
value  or  is  taught  with  a  view  to  its  practical  application  in 
industry. 

(e)  There  is  little  or  no  industrial  content  in  the  various  sub- 
jects as  taught  in  the  school,  included  in  the  course  of  study 
given  in  the  school  report.  An  analysis  of  the  course  in  mathe- 
matics, for  example,  shows  that  it  does  not  materially  differ 
from  the  course  in  mathematics  in  any  good  general  high  school.1 

While  this  course  in  mathematics  is  undoubtedly  well  adapted 
to  preparing  boys  for  the  technical  college  it  contains  many 
topics  that  the  future  officer  of  industry  will  never  need  and 
omits  entirely  most  of  the  topics  recommended  by  this  report. 
It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  here  and  there  in  the  school  the  writer 
found  instruction  being  given  in  some  of  the  topics  suggested  in 
the  Appendix  of  this  report,  as  supplementary  to  the  regular 
course  in  mathematics.  Such  instruction  was,  on  the  whole, 
only  incidental,  and  no  well-organized  plan  of  instruction  along 
the  lines  herein  recommended  appears  to  have  been  worked  out. 


1  "The  first  year's  work  (In  algebra)  has  special  reference  to  the  attainment  of  pro- 
ficiency In  the  more  Important  processes  and  extends  through  simultaneous  quad- 
ratics. The  second  year's  work  Is  a  review  of  the  work  of  the  preceding  year  and 
extends  through  progressions.  Algebraic  methods  are  employed  In  the  solution  of 
such  problems  as  are  met  with  In  the  study  of  physical  sciences,  and  In  the  mechanical 
department  of  the  school. 

"During  the  second  year  the  subject  of  plane  geometry  Is  completed.  The  first 
half  of  the  third  year  Is  devoted  to  the  principles  of  solid  geometry  and  to  numerous 
exercises  Illustrating  and  enforcing  them,  while  the  remainder  of  the  year  is  given 
to  plane  trigonometry  and  reviews. 

"The  work  of  this  year  In  trigonometry  Is  designed  to  familiarize  the  student  with 
the  fundamental  principles  and  formulae.  The  subject  is  continued  In  the  fourth 
year  with  special  reference  to  its  application,  to  problems  in  surveying,  navigation, 
and  physical  science." 


36        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

It  is  also  true  that,  in  the  case  of  certain  other  subjects,  such 
as  English,  history,  and  science,  instruction  of  an  industrial 
character,  supplementary  to  the  regular  course,  is  being  given. 
In  general  it  remains  true  that  such  instruction  also  is  only 
incidental  and  that  these  subjects  are  not  in  any  vital  way  cor- 
related with  industry  and  the  work  of  the  shop. 

(f)  A  further  difference  between  the  two  courses  of  training 
under  discussion  is  the  educational  theory  on  which  each  is  based. 
The  present  course  of  study  is  founded  on  the  theory  that  every 
pupil  is  endowed  with  certain  faculties  like  memory,  reason,  and 
judgment,  and  that  to  educate  him  you  have  only  to  train  his 
faculties.  These  faculties  once  thoroughly  trained  in  any  field 
of  thought  give  power  that  can  be  successfully  transferred  to 
any  other  field.  The  school  report  says,  as  already  noted, 
that  "the  primary  purpose  of  the  school  is  to  secure  the  har- 
monious development  of  all  the  powers  of  the  pupil"  and  that 
"the  training  which  it  (the  school)  gives  is  not  less  valuable  to 
a  boy  who  is  to  become  a  lawyer  or  a  physician  than  to  one  who 
is  to  superintend  a  manufacturing  establishment  or  work  at 
the  bench."  Again,  in  speaking  of  the  course  in  mathematics, 
it  says,  "the  aim  is  to  train  pupils  to  habits  of  accuracy  of 
thought  and  expression."  These  statements  indicate  a  belief 
in  the  value  of  formal  discipline — a  theory  long  since  repudiated 
by  most  of  the  best  psychologists. 

In  contrast  to  this  theory  of  education  the  course  of  study 
recommended  in  this  report  is  based  on  the  theory  that,  in  order 
to  develop  special  capacity  in  any  given  field,  such  as  that  of 
productive  industry,  the  pupil  must  be  trained  in  that  special 
field. 

6.  On  the  whole,  as  has  already  been  stated,  the  present  course 
of  study  in  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  must  be  regarded  as 
little  more  than  a  general  preparatory  course  for  the  engineering 
college.  The  aim  and  content  of  such  subjects  as  mathematics, 
English,  science,  and  history,  it  appears,  do  not  essentially 
differ  from  the  aim  and  content  of  the  same  subjects  in  the 
English  High  School.  To  a  large  extent,  the  two  schools  use 
the  same  text-books  and  the  same  methods  of  instruction. 
They  set  up  the  same  limits  of  study  in  various  subjects,  their 
classroom  instructors  have  the  same  qualifications,  and  both 
schools  fit  for  the  same  engineering  colleges.  Even  French  is 


Kind  of  Training  37 

offered  in  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  for  no  other  purpose 
than  to  enable  the  graduate  to  meet  the  entrance  requirements 
of  the  engineering  college,  and  the  only  reason  Latin  has  not 
been  included  in  the  course  would  seem  to  be  that  there  has 
not  been  a  sufficient  demand  for  it  to  form  a  class.1 

The  whole  policy  of  the  special  schools  for  Boston  is  based  on 
the  different  assumption  that  not  only  do  secondary  school 
pupils  have  different  aims,  aptitudes,  and  possibilities,  but  that 
to  realize  them,  special  schools,  each  with  its  distinct  aim  and 
course,  are  necessary.  The  course  now  offered  by  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School,  it  has  been  clearly  shown,  does  not  agree 
with  this  policy. 

In  the  field  of  higher  education  the  old  theory  of  formal  dis- 
cipline has  been  almost  entirely  discarded.  No  one  to-day  would 
think  of  claiming  that  the  lawyer  could  be  as  well  trained  for  his 
life  work  in  an  institution  giving  only  a  general  training  as  in  a 
modern  law  school,  or  that  an  engineer  or  physician  could  be 
best  trained  in  a  college  of  letters.  Experience  has  shown  be- 
yond question  the  advantage  of  special  training  for  special 
fields  of  work;  and  the  principle  applies  with  as  much  force  in 
the  field  of  secondary  education  as  it  does  in  the  field  of  profes- 
sional training. 

INSTRUCTION 

1.  When  the  School  Committee,  by  official  action,  decreed  that 
the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  should  be  a  special  school  for 
the  training  of  officers  of  industry,  it  thereby  set  up,  as  has 
already  been  pointed  out,  certain  requirements  as  to  the  methods 
and  nature  of  the  instruction  to  be  given  in  this  school,  made 
necessary  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  it  was  a  special  school  hav- 
ing a  special  aim. 

2.  The  methods  of  teaching  used  are  not  adapted  to  the  prepara- 
tion of  boys  for  industrial  careers.     This  fact,  it  should  be  said 
in  passing,  is  in  no  sense  a  criticism  of  the  instructors  at  present 


»"  Numerous  Inquiries  concerning  the  school  have  been  made  by  parents  who  are 
anxious  to  give  their  sons  the  advantages  of  a  thorough  course  in  manual  training, 
but  who  also  desire  to  have  them  begin  Latin  when  they  enter  the  high  school,  as  a 
part  of  their  course  in  preparation  for  college.  If  such  applications  should  be  re- 
ceived in  sufficient  number  to  justify  the  formation  of  special  classes,  the  question  of 
making  Latin  elective  subject  throughout  the  course  will  be  seriously  considered." 
Cat.,  1901,  page  IS. 


38       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

serving  in  the  school.  It  must  be  repeated  that  the  school 
possesses  an  able  corps  of  teachers  whose  work  is  unquestion- 
ably equal  to  that  in  any  of  the  Boston  high  schools.  Undoubt- 
edly they  are  thoroughly  well  qualified  to  teach  college  pre- 
paratory subjects  and,  for  the  most  part,  the  shop  men,  because 
of  their  wide  experience  in  industry,  are  well  fitted  to  train  boys 
for  industrial  pursuits.  It  remains  true,  however,  that,  in  view 
of  the  aim  of  the  Committee,  many  of  the  requirements  neces- 
sary to  efficient  instruction  of  the  kind  recommended  by  this 
report  are  not  now  met  by  the  school.  At  a  later  point  the  ques- 
tion of  instructors  is  further  discussed. 

3.  The  shops  must  be  run  on  a  commercial  basis,  to  prepare 
boys  for  the  demands  of  industry;  they  must  be  properly  equipped; 
pupils  must  be  taught  individually  or  in  small  groups  rather 
than  by  classes;  the  teaching  methods  of  shop  and  classroom 
must  be  adapted  to  the  aim  of  the  school;  and  every  instructor, 
through  trade  experience  and  industrial  contact,  must  be  quali- 
fied to  give  his  part  of  the  special  kind  of  training  the  school  is 
expected  to  confer. 

The  experience  of  the  best  industrial  schools,  as  well  as  such 
institutions  as  Pratt  Institute,  Wentworth  Institute,  and  Car- 
negie Institute  of  Technology,  goes  to  prove  that,  if  shop  instruc- 
tion is  to  be  efficient  as  a  means  of  training  for  industry,  it  must 
be  so  conducted  as  to  result  in  a  product  that  can  be  put  to  some 
practical  use.  In  the  case  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
this  product  could  be  disposed  of  to  the  school  department,  or 
to  other  city  departments,  by  an  arrangement  similar  to  that 
which  now  obtains  between  the  Boys'  Industrial  School  and 
the  school  department.  While  the  amount  of  output  from  the 
shops  would  be  small,  a  usable  output  is  necessary,  if  for  no 
other  reason,  to  avoid  the  waste  and  misuse  that  results  from 
breaking  up  the  product  or  giving  it  away  for  private  use.  Fur- 
thermore, a  usable  product,  practical  in  character,  made  in  re- 
sponse to  an  actual  demand,  is  the  only  way  in  which  reality 
can  be  given  to  the  shop  training. 

The  shops  of  the  school  as  a  whole  are  practically  non-productive 
at  the  present  time.  The  list  of  all  the  different  jobs  completed 
in  1911-12,  submitted  by  the  headmaster,  shows  that  not  less 
than  70  per  cent  of  them  were  exercises  like  those  commonly 
performed  in  the  conventional  manual  training  school,  consist- 


Kind  of  Training  39 

ing  of  such  things  as:  making  a  miter  joint,  a  square  joint,  square 
prisms,  flower  trellis,  coat  hanger,  carving  an  ink  stand,  carving 
a  rosette,  making  flat  rings,  test  pieces,  brackets,  staples,  hooks, 
cylinder  patterns,  taper  patterns,  plugs,  iron  blocks,  and  shafts, 
as  contrasted  with  the  kind  of  "jobs"  done  by  the  methods  em- 
ployed in  a  commercial  shop.1 

According  to  records  obtained  in  the  school  office,  approx- 
mately  28,000  "jobs"  were  completed  by  about  1,400  boys  in 
1911-12,  an  average  of  about  twenty  jobs  per  pupil.  This 
includes  all  jobs,  exercises,  and  projects  successfully  done  in  the 
shops,  including  such  things  as  sharpening  lathe  tools,  fitting 
key  to  lock,  grinding  lathe  centers,  sharpening  cutters,  making 
staples,  sharpening  saws,  as  well  as  more  important  "jobs" 
and  exercises. 

Less  than  25  per  cent  of  the  things  made  in  the  shops  were 
put  to  use  in  the  school,  it  being  the  practice  to  give  most  of  the 
finished  exercises  or  finished  work  to  the  pupil  to  take  home, 
no  charge  usually  being  made  for  the  material  supplied  entirely 
at  public  expenses.  Nothing  made  in  the  shops  with  these 
1,400  workers  was  either  sold  or  utilized  in  the  school  depart- 
ment or  other  departments  of  the  city  as  is  done  with  the  out- 
put of  the  shops  of  the  Boston  Industrial  School  for  Boys.  It 
should  be  said  in  justice  to  the  school  that  many  of  the  shop 
instructors  are  more  than  willing  to  undertake  more  practical 
work  and  have  been  planning  to  do  so  as  soon  as  the  shop  classes 
have  been  reduced  in  size  and  the  amount  of  shop  time  increased. 

4.  The  methods  of  handling  the  work  should  closely  correspond 
to  the  best  practice  in  commercial  shops.2  The  character  of  the 
product  turned  out  in  some  of  the  shops,  the  fact  that  the  stock 
in  the  wood-working  shop,  at  least,  is  commonly  gotten  out  by 
instructors  and  that  the  work  is  largely  organized  on  an  exer- 
cise basis,  indicate  that  this  is  not  generally  true. 

The  best  features  of  commercial  shop  organization  in  such 
matters  as  planning  and  routing  jobs,  checking  and  inspecting 

1  It  Is  only  fair  to  say  that  some  of  the  "jobs"  turned  out  In  the  various  shops  are 
of  a  commercial  character.  These,  however,  constitute  only  a  small  per  cent  of  the 
total  output  of  the  school. 

1  In  discussing  the  question  of  commercial  methods,  the  headmaster  says,  "Com- 
mercial shop  methods  are  always  mentioned  and  explained  in  comparison  with  the 
simpler  job  methods  by  which  the  pupil  is  usually  first  made  acquainted  with  the 
process,  and  frequently  the  commercial  method  of  procedure  is  actually  used  in  the 
school  shop." 


40        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

work,  order  systems,  cost  and  production  accounts,  time  ac- 
counts, records  showing  the  movement  of  stock  and  jobs  through 
the  shops,  the  tagging  and  repair  of  incapacitated  machines, 
and  in  the  various  other  details  of  shop  management  should  be 
employed  wherever  possible.  To  a  limited  extent,  such  things 
as  time  cards,  job  cards,  and  stock  orders  are  now  used.  If  the 
school  is  to  instruct  boys  efficiently  in  the  principles  of  shop  or- 
ganization and  management,  however,  this  feature  of  shop 
organization  needs  to  be  much  more  fully  developed. 

5.  Shop  instruction  in  the  best  industrial  trade  and  secondary 
technical  schools  is  usually  given  either  to  the  individual  pupil 
or  to  small  groups.  If  the  shops  are  run  on  a  commercial  basis, 
the  diverse  character  of  the  work  makes  it  impossible  for  the 
instructor  to  handle  large  classes.  Experience  goes  to  show 
that,  under  ordinary  conditions,  one  instructor  cannot  efficiently 
handle  more  than  twenty  pupils  in  a  shop  class. 

The  shop  classes  are  overcrowded.  The  records  of  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School  show  that  these  accommodate  from  eighteen 
to  forty  pupils,  dropping  down  to  the  smaller  number  only  in 
the  case  of  one  or  two  divisions  of  the  first  year  class  near  the 
close  of  the  year  and  not  going  below  thirty-one  in  the  case  of 
the  fourth  year  class.  The  average  shop  class  appears  to  be 
about  thirty-four  pupils  while  classes  in  elementary  science  have 
risen  to  eighty  pupils.  Judging  from  the  statements  in  the 
catalogue,  as  well  as  from  an  examination  of  the  plant,  the  draft- 
ing rooms  and  shops  have  been  definitely  planned  and  equipped 
with  a  view  to  accommodating  classes  of  about  that  size.1 

The  headmaster  also  appears  to  be  of  the  opinion  that,  on 
the  whole,  the  equipment  of  the  shops  and  the  cost  of  material, 
as  well  as  sound  methods  of  pedagogy,  justify  shop  teaching  by 
groups  rather  than  by  individual  instruction.2 

1  That  it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  school  to  organize  the  work  on  the  basis  of 
large  classes  would  seem  to  be  evident  from  a  statement  in  the  catalogue  which  says, 
"to  enable  the  largest  number  of  pupils  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  the  school,  it  is 
necessary  that  each  division  should  contain  the  maximum  number  for  which  the 
shops  and  the  drawing  rooms  are  equipped."  —Cat.,  190^,  page  56. 

'On  this  point  the  following  questions  were  submitted  to  the  headmaster:  Ques- 
tion Number  11— If  you  use  the  group  method  of  teaching,  please  give  the  reasons: 
(a)  because  the  method  is  best  as  a  means  of  teaching?  (b)  because  the  class  is 
too  large  to  be  handled  otherwise?  (c)  because  the  equipment  is  best  adapted  to 
the  group  method?  (d)  because  otherwise  too  much  material  would  be  spoiled?  (e) 
because  best  results  are  obtained  after  careful  preliminary  direction  to  the  group? 
(f)  Because  immature  boys  learn  best  by  the  imitation? 

In  reply,  the  headmaster  says:  "The  group  method  is  preferred  for  all  the  reasons 
stated  in  Question  Number  u." 


Kind  of  Training  41 

While  nothing  in  the  headmaster's  reply  quoted  above  is  said 
in  regard  to  the  size  of  the  groups,  the  fact  that  the  school  is 
organized  on  the  basis  of  about  thirty-four  pupils  to  the  section 
and  that  no  pupils  have  been  refused  admittance  because  the 
sections  were  too  large  for  efficient  work  seems  to  indicate  that 
the  headmaster  believes  that  large  sections  are  necessary  and 
can  be  successfully  taught  on  a  demonstration  and  imitation 
basis,  which  is  the  only  method  that  can  be  used  with  sections 
of  this  size. 

Leading  psychologists,  as  well  as  practical  shop  men,  are 
agreed  that  boys  cannot  be  effectively  taught  shop  work  for  any 
practical  purpose  on  an  imitation  and  demonstration  basis 
alone,  and  that  demonstration  and  lectures  are  valuable  only 
as  they  are  accompanied  or  preceded  on  the  part  of  the  pupil 
by  actual  participation  in  practical  work.  Where  an  instructor 
is  obliged  to  handle  shop  classes  of  thirty  to  forty  pupils  he  is 
forced  to  teach  by  lectures,  demonstration,  and  imitation,  and 
instead  of  using  practical  shop  methods  is  compelled  to  organize 
his  work  on  an  exercise  basis.  Under  these  conditions  the 
school  fails  to  realize  on  the  commercial  experience  of  the  shop 
instructor — the  most  valuable  asset  he  brings  to  his  work. 

6.  In  order  to  teach  successfully  the  application  of  drawing, 
science,  mathematics,  and  English  to  industrial  work,  instruction 
in  these  subjects  should  be  so  organized  that  much  of  it  can  be 
given  in  connection  with  the  shop  work  and  at  the  moment  it 
is  needed.  This  can  be  successfully  done  by  teaching  pupils  to 
make  drawings,  write  specifications  and  reports,  figure  costs, 
and  make  shop  calculations  as  a  part  of  their  practical  shop 
work.  This  would  greatly  aid  in  bringing  the  necessary  shop 
atmosphere  into  the  classroom.  To  a  very  limited  extent, 
instruction  of  this  character  is  now  being  given  in  the  school  by 
requiring  the  pupils  to  make  simple  calculations  and  sketches, 
in  the  shops  and  in  the  classroom.  This  instruction,  however, 
owing  to  the  character  of  much  of  the  shop  work  and  the  lack 
of  systematic  correlation  between  the  work  of  the  shops  and 
that  of  the  classrooms,  is  lacking  in  reality  and  fails  to  give 
the  pupil  the  power  he  needs  in  practical  application. 

The  instruction  in  related  subjects  referred  to  above  should  be 
supplemented  by  close  and  systematic  correlation  between  the 
practical  work  of  the  shops  and  the  regular  work  of  the  class- 


42        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

rooms.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  work  of  the  drafting  rooms. 
A  large  part  of  the  work  done  in  this  department  should  be  in 
direct  response  to  the  needs  of  the  shops.  It  does  not  appear 
that  very  much  of  the  work  turned  out  by  the  drafting  depart- 
ment, excellent  as  it  is,  is  now  put  to  practical  use  in  the  shops. 

7.  The  regular  school  text-books  contain  but  little  material  that 
can  be  used  except  for  reference  in  classroom  instruction  in  such 
subjects  as  mathematics,   science,   economics,   civics,   and  the 
like,  in  a  course  preparing  for  industrial  careers  such  as  those 
herein  proposed.     To  a  large  extent  the  material  for  these  sub- 
jects should  be  gathered  from  trade  publications,  the  school 
shops,  outside  commercial  plants,  and  similar  sources.     This 
makes  it  necessary  to  a  considerable  extent  for  the  instructor  to 
write  his  own  text-books.    These  he  can  prepare  in  the  form  of 
mimeograph  sheets  and  blue  prints.     The  writer  does  not  find 
this  is  generally  done  in  the  school  at  present.     Teaching  or- 
ganized in  this  way  is  much  more  flexible  and  can  readily  be 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  pupils  and  the  demands  of  industry. 

8.  As  a  further  means  of  making  such  instruction  effective,  the 
pupil  should  be  required  to  visit  outside  plants  and  study,  under 
direction,  their  business  and  shop  organization  and  their  methods 
of  work.     Representatives  of  such  plants  should  be  brought 
in  from  time  to  time  to  give  special  lectures  on  practical  subjects 
relating  to  the  affairs  of  productive  industry.     As  elsewhere 
suggested,  a  plan  should  also  be  worked  out  whereby  pupils 
should  be  required  during  their  vacation  to  serve  in  commercial 
plants.     The  part-time  class,  elsewhere  discussed  in  this  report, 
is  another  and  the  best  means  of  bringing  an  industrial  atmos- 
phere into  the  school.     It  does  not  appear  that  any  of  these 
devices  are  now  systematically  used  in  the  school. 

INSTRUCTORS 

1.  The  action  of  the  School  Committee  in  establishing  a  special 
aim  for  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  has  also  imposed  certain 
requirements  as  to  the  qualifications  of  the  instructors. 

2.  The  instructors  in  charge  of  the  shops  should,  as  has  been 
stated,  be  men  of  wide  practical  experience  in  order  to  prepare 
"non-commissioned  officers  of  industry."     They  should  thor- 
oughly understand  their  trade,  both  as  to  its  practice  and  its 


Kind  of  Training  43 

related  technical  knowledge,  as  well  as  the  organization  and 
management  of  commercial  shops.  In  addition,  they  should 
also  have  had  executive  and  business  experience  in  the  special 
fields  for  which  the  school  is  to  train  its  pupils.  They  should 
have  good  general  schooling  and  their  personal  qualifications 
should  be  such  as  to  promise  the  efficient  performance  of  their 
work.  In  addition  to  their  personal  and  shop  equipment,  they 
should  understand  the  aim  and  organization  of  the  school  and, 
in  a  professional  sense,  should  know  how  to  teach. 

Shop  instructors  in  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  for  the 
most  part  are  well  qualified  to  give  the  kind  of  instruction  re- 
quired by  the  aim  of  the  School  Committee,  although,  as  has 
already  been  pointed  out,  the  school  is  not  now  taking  ad- 
vantage of  their  practical  experience. 

3.  The  teachers  of  related  subjects  should,  to  get  the  best  results, 
have  at  least  an  elementary  and  practical  experience  in  industry. 
This    would    include    instructors    in    such    lines    as    mathe- 
matics, drawing,  and  science.     Their  experience  need  not  be  as 
extensive  or  as  varied  as  that  of  the  shop  teacher,  but  it  should 
at  least  be  sufficient  to  equip  them  to  teach  their  subjects  in 
such  a  way  as  to  enable  the  pupil  to  understand  and  use  such 
teaching,  within  the  limits  of  the  aim  of  the  school,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  best  practice  in  industry. 

Even  the  teachers  of  such  subjects  as  English,  civics,  and 
economics  should  have  sufficient  contact  with  industrial  activ- 
ities to  give  them  an  appreciation  of  the  conditions  and  prob- 
lems of  industry  and  at  least  a  layman's  knowledge  of  the  more 
common  machines  and  processes  found  in  the  shop.  Their 
knowledge  of  industry  should  be  such  as  to  enable  them  to 
gather  teaching  material  for  their  subjects  from  the  world  of 
work,  and  to  make  practical  applications  of  the  principles  taught 
to  the  conditions  and  problems  which  the  pupil  as  a  citizen  and 
a  worker  in  industry  is  sure  to  encounter. 

4.  A  number  of  the  present  teachers  of  academic  subjects  have 
had  no  industrial  contact  whatever,  although  they  possess  ex- 
cellent preparation  for  the  teaching  of  college  preparatory  sub- 
jects, and  are,  therefore,  not  qualified  to  give  successfully  the 
kind  of  training  in  related  studies  recommended  in  this  report. 
Some  of  these  teachers  will  doubtless  be  able  to  acquire  the  neces- 
sary   industrial    experience    during    their    vacations.     Others 


44        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

probably  could  not  acquire  it,  but  they  could  be,  in  all  prob- 
ability, advantageously  transferred  to  other  schools. 

EQUIPMENT 

1.  By  establishing  a  special  aim  for  this  school,  the  commit- 
tee has,  by  implication  at  least,  set  up  certain  requirements  as 
to  the  general  facilities  of  the  school  including  the  character 
and  amount  of  the  equipment. 

A  large  part  of  the  present  equipment  is  admirably  fitted  for 
the  best  type  of  industrial  work,  if  slightly  rearranged  and  sup- 
plemented here  and  there  by  additional  apparatus  to  increase 
the  scope  and  variety. 

2.  There  is  urgent  need  of  more  floor  space  for  the  shops.     Over 
1,500  pupils  are  crowded  into  a  building  whose  shops  cannot 
properly    accommodate    more    than   about    800.     Fortunately, 
however,  more  space  can  easily  be  found  for  shop  uses  by  making 
alterations  suggested  on  pages  64  and  84-85.     On  account  of 
shops  and  laboratories  a  technical  high  school  needs  more  space 
per  pupil  than  does  a  general  high  school.     While,  for  example, 
the  space  per  pupil  is  greater  in  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
than  it  is  in  the  English  High  School,  the  shop  floor  space  is  less 
than  that  of  the  best  industrial  and  trade  schools  and  very  much 
less  than  that  of  good  commercial  shops. 

3.  This  overcrowding  appears  to  be  due  in  part  to  a  commend- 
able desire  of  the  school  administration  to  keep  the  cost  per 
pupil  down  to  a  minimum.1    This  question  of  the  per  capita 
cost  is  discussed  at  length  at  another  point.     (See  page  50.) 

4.  Many  of  the  machines  are  well  suited  to  practical  work.     In 
many  instances,  however,  they  should  be  rearranged  so  as  to 
give  more  space  for  practical  work,  and  they  should  be  supple- 
mented by  other  machines  to  increase  the  variety  and  scope  of 
the  instruction.     At  least  two  of  the  rooms  now  used  for  study 


1 "  To  enable  the  largest  number  of  pupils  to  enjoy  the  advantages  with  the  school , 
it  is  necessary  that  each  division  should  contain  the  maximum  number  of  which  the 
shops  and  drawing  rooms  are  equipped." — Cat.  1904,  p.  56. 

In  Appendix  I  of  this  report  is  given  a  table  taken  from  School  Document  No. 
12,  p.  64,  showing  the  cost  of  instruction  from  1898-1904  to  be  less  than  that  of 
either  the  English  High  School  or  the  Public  Latin  School.  In  this  connection  the 
school  report  makes  the  following  comment:  "The  impression  that  the  school  is 
still  relatively  expensive  appears  to  prevail  although  that  opinion  rests  upon  no  founda- 
tion in  fact." 


Kind  of  Training  45 

rooms  should  be  added  to  the  space  now  used  for  shop  purposes 
and  the  machines  and  tools  so  distributed  as  to  give  sufficient 
space  for  productive  work. 

CONTACT  WITH  INDUSTRY 

The  school  must,  in  a  variety  of  ways,  make  systematic  contacts 
with  industrial  life,  in  order,  as  has  been  stated  at  various  points 
in  this  report,  to  adjust  pupils  to  the  practical  demands  of  in- 
dustry. It  has  also  been  shown  that,  on  the  whole,  the  course 
is  academic  and  far  removed  from  industrial  and  commercial 
life;  that  some  of  the  teachers  have  never  had  any  actual  con- 
tact with  industry;  that  the  methods  of  instruction  are  those 
usually  employed  in  schools  dealing  with  general  education  and 
are  not  adapted  to  meet  the  specific  demands  of  industrial  oc- 
cupations; that  some  of  the  equipment  is  not  of  a  commercial 
character;  and  that,  for  the  most  part,  throughout  the  school 
there  is  an  entire  absence  of  industrial  atmosphere.  This  isola- 
tion of  the  school  from  practical  affairs  is  perhaps  best  shown  by 
its  failure  to  establish  any  kind  of  working  relationships  with 
the  industries  in  and  around  Boston  into  which,  according  to 
the  aim  of  the  School  Committee,  its  students  are  to  be  sent  with 
a  working  appreciation  of  the  problems  and  questions  with  which 
these  industries  are  concerned. 

The  lack  of  contact  with  industry  is  evidenced  by  such  facts 
as  the  following: 

(a)  There  is  no  organized  or  systematic  plan  of  placing  boys 
during  the  vacations  in  lines  of  employment  similar  to  those 
for  which  they  are  being  trained. 

(b)  There  is  failure  to  require  experience  of  this  kind  as  a 
part  of  the  course  of  the  school. 

(c)  No  recognition  in  the  way  of  credit  is  given  a  pupil  for 
industrial  experience. 

(d)  Visits  to  outside  plants,  when  made  at  all,  are  only  an 
incidental   part   of  the   instruction.     There   is   no   systematic, 
well  organized  plan  of  visitations. 

(e)  The  school  makes  little  or  no  attempt  to  bring  in  from  the 
outside  an  industrial  atmosphere  by  securing  demonstrators, 
salesmen,  employees,  or  other  men  engaged  in  the  practical 
affairs  of  industry  to  give  lectures  on  industrial  questions  and 


46       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

shop  problems  as  a  part  of  the  regular  instruction  of  the  school. 

(f)  Trade  publications  are  not  used  for  instruction  purposes 
to  anything  like  the  extent  they  should  be. 

(g)  There  is  no  organization  for  the  placing  of  pupils  who 
graduate  from  the  school  or  who  leave  before  the  end  of  the 
course. 

(h)  The  school  has  developed  no  system  for  following  up 
students  after  they  go  into  the  industry. 

Each  of  these  devices  is  necesssary  as  a  means  of  vitalizing 
the  work  of  the  school  and  giving  it  that  contact  with  practical 
affairs  without  which  it  cannot  be  efficient. 


HOW  FAR  DOES  THE  SCHOOL  SUCCEED  IN  PLACING 
ITS  PUPILS  IN  THE  KIND  OF  INDUSTRIAL  EM- 
PLOYMENT INTENDED  BY  THE  AIM  OF  THE 
SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  it  is  doubtful  if  more  than  from 
25  per  cent  to  35  per  cent  of  the  pupils  of  the  school  go  into 
industry  on  the  business  and  directive  side.  (See  page  24ff.) 
At  a  later  point  in  this  report,  in  connection  with  the  recom- 
mendations herein  made,  the  absence  of  any  organized  plan  for 
placing  pupils  who  leave  the  school  either  before  or  after  gradua- 
tion in  appropriate  employment  in  industry  is  pointed  out  and 
suggestions  made  as  to  how  the  school  can  best  render  this 
necessary  service.  (See  page  59ff.) 


47 


VI 

CAN  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL  SERVE  AS 
A  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  THE  ENGINEERING 
COLLEGE  AND  AT  THE  SAME  TIME  REALIZE  THE 
AIM  OF  THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 

That  the  school  successfully  prepares  boys  both  for  industrial 
pursuits  and  for  the  engineering  college,  and  that  it  should  con- 
tinue to  prepare  for  the  engineering  college,  it  has  already  been 
shown,  is  the  opinion  of  the  headmaster. 

The  small  proportion  of  pupils  who  actually  enter  productive 
industry  either  as  skilled  workmen  or  on  the  business  and  direct- 
ive side,  demonstrates  that  in  attempting  to  realize  the  first 
aim  the  school  has  not  in  the  past  been  notably  successful. 
Neither  has  it  been  conspicuously  successful  as  compared  with 
other  Boston  high  schools,  in  preparing  boys  for  the  engineering 
college.  The  school  and  college  records  show  that,  on  the  whole, 
boys  find  their  way  to  the  engineering  college  from  other  Boston 
high  schools  at  least  as  readily  as  they  do  from  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School.  (See  Appendix  A.) 

During  the  past  twelve  years  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
has  sent  to  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  for 
example,  an  average  of  about  twenty  graduates  a  year  as  against 
seventeen  from  the  English  High  School  and  twelve  from  other 
Boston  high  schools. 

The  table  given  in  the  Appendix  of  this  report  shows,  more- 
over, that  the  records  of  the  graduates  of  the  English  High 
School  and  the  other  general  high  schools  of  Boston,  made  at 
the  Institute  of  Technology  during  this  period,  are  superior  to 
those  made  by  the  graduates  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

It  seems  clearly  evident  that  the  school  has  not  in  the  past 
been  conspicuously  successful  in  preparing  boys  both  for  in- 
dustry and  the  engineering  college. 

The  School  Committee  has  defined  the  present  aim  of  the 
school  to  be  the  preparation  of  boys  for  industrial  careers.  To 

48 


Mechanic  Arts  High  School  and  the  Engineering  College  49 

realize  this  aim  the  course  of  study  and  the  methods  of  instruc- 
tion, it  has  already  been  suggested  and  at  a  later  point  will  be 
fully  demonstrated,  must  radically  differ  from  those  now  em- 
ployed in  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  or  in  any  school  which 
aims  to  prepare  for  the  engineering  college. 

If  in  the  past  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  with  its  single 
course  of  study  largely  determined  by  the  entrance  requirements 
of  the  engineering  college  has  been  unable  successfully  to  carry 
out  this  double  aim,  it  is  highly  probable  that,  in  the  future, 
with  a  more  highly  specialized  course  of  study  directed  away 
from  the  engineering  college,  it  cannot  hope  to  do  so.1 

It  has  been  suggested  that  two  separate  courses  be  offered  in 
order  to  meet  this  difficulty,  one  for  the  training  of  industrial 
cadets  and  the  other  for  preparation  for  the  engineering  college. 
Even  if  separate  courses  were  offered  the  two  aims  would  directly 
conflict  with  each  other.  Attention  would  inevitably  be  given 
to  one  at  the  expense  of  the  other.  Owing  to  the  radical  differ- 
ence in  courses  of  study  and  methods  of  instruction,  more  or 
less  duplication  of  equipment,  instructors,  and  general  facilities 
for  the  work  would  be  necessary.  This  would  undoubtedly 
largely  increase  the  per  capita  cost  of  instruction  beyond  that 
of  other  preparatory  schools.  There  is  every  evidence,  more- 
over, that  just  as  good  results  can  be  secured  by  using  the  other 
Boston  high  schools  for  all  preparatory  work. 

In  view  of  all  the  facts  in  the  case  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  if  the  school  should  continue  to  offer  preparation 
for  the  engineering  college  it  must  fail  to  achieve  the  purpose  of 
the  School  Committee  to  make  it  a  training  school  for  indus- 
tries. 


1  The  support  for  the  Idea  that  the  school  should  prepare  boys  for  the  engineering 
college  comes  from  the  contention  that  the  way  to  the  college  should  be  kept  open 
at  the  top  to  every  boy.  In  this  connection  these  facts  should  be  noted:  (1)  Less 
than  one  in  seven  of  those  who  enter  ever  go  to  the  engineering  college.  (2)  There  Is 
no  proof  that  any  measurable  number  of  these  fail  to  reach  a  decision  until  late  in 
their  course.  (3)  Those  who  do  so  fail  can  get  the  necessary  preparation  by  being 
shunted  to  other  Boston  high  schools  after  they  have  determined  to  fit  for  college. 
(4)  The  present  plan  requires  all  boys  to  take  the  preparatory  course  for  the  engineer- 
Ing  college  whether  they  Intend  to  go  to  college  or  not. 


VII 

IS  THE  PER  CAPITA  COST  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUCH  AS 
WILL  REALIZE  THE  AIM  OF  THE  SCHOOL 
COMMITTEE? 

1.  The  comparative  cost  of  the  different  high  schools  maintained 
by  the  city  is  given  in  a  table  in  Appendix  I  of  this  report. 
Attention  is  here  called  to  the  low  cost  of  maintenance  of  the 
Mechanic  Arts  High  School  as  compared  with  the  cost  of  oper- 
ating the  Girls'  Trade  School.     The  per  capita  cost  of  operating 
the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  is  probably  less  than  that  of 
any  special  vocational  school  in  the  country  and,  it  may  be  said 
in  passing,  furnishes  one  of  the  most  conclusive  proofs  that  it  is 
a  general  high  school. 

The  low  per  capita  cost  noted  above  has  very  evidently  been 
brought  about  by  policies  which  have  undoubtedly  been  well 
meant,  but  which  have  seriously  interfered  with  the  efficiency  of 
the  school.  They  have  resulted  in  classes  much  too  large  for 
satisfactory  work,  and  have  led  to  congested  conditions  that 
seriously  hamper  its  success. 

2.  The  small  amount  of  money  expended  for  stock  has  also  been 
a  factor  in  the  low  per  capita  cost  of  maintenance.     In  general, 
the  cost  for  lumber,  according  to  figures  given  by  the  head- 
master, is  less  than  $3  per  annum  per  capita  for  boys  in  the 
wood-working  classes.     A  boy  can  hardly  be  trained  for  efficient 
work  in  industry  on  such  a  small  allotment  of  stock.     The 
alternative,  as  already  suggested,  is  to  spend  more  money  for 
stock  and  make  a  commercial  product  to  be  utilized  in  the  school 
system  or  otherwise. 

The  recommendations  made  herein  would  undoubtedly  in- 
crease the  operating  expenses  to  at  least  $100  per  pupil,  and 
even  more  according  to  the  length  of  the  school  day  and  the 
size  of  classes.  This  type  of  education  is  expensive  and  if  the 
Boston  School  Committee  desires  to  have  it,  it  must  pay  the 
cost. 

50 


Per  Capita  Cost  of  the  School  51 

3.  Causes  of  increased  expenditure  due  to  the  recommendations 
of  the  report.     A  part  of  the  increased  cost  would  be  due  to  ad- 
ditional expenditures  for  changes  in  the  plant  and  equipment,  but 
almost  all  of  it  would  be  directly  chargeable  to  operation  and 
would  be  due  to  such  items  as  the  following: 

(a)  Increase  in  cost  of  instruction  per  pupil  due  to  limiting  the 
size  of  all  classes  to  the  number  that  can  be  effectively  taught. 

(b)  Increase  in  floor  space  per  pupil  necessary  to  carry  out 
the  shop  work. 

(c)  Increase  per  pupil  in  overhead  and  fixed  charges  of  main- 
tenance, such  as  light,  power,  heat,  depreciation  in  equipment 
and  plant,  etc. 

(d)  Increase  in  the  clerical  and  administrative  force  necessary 
to  take  care  of  the  admission  of  pupils  and  the  maintenance  of  a 
placement  bureau. 

(e)  A  small  but  necessary  appropriation  for  special  lectures 
by  experts  in  practical  subjects. 

(f)  Increase  in  the  cost  of  material,  which  will  probably  be 
more  than  offset  by  the  value  of  the  finished  product. 

(g)  Increase  in  the  length  of  the  school  day,  thereby  further 
increasing  such  items  as  light,  power,  heat,  repairs,  and  service. 

It  should  be  noted  that  in  the  estimates  given  below,  while 
the  cost  per  pupil  per  annum  will  be  somewhat  increased  over 
the  present  cost,  owing  to  the  lengthening  of  the  school  day,  the 
cost  per  pupil  hour  will  not  be  proportionately  increased.  In 
other  words,  part  of  the  increased  cost  will  be  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  city,  if  these  recommendations  are  adopted,  will  be 
buying  more  hours  of  training  than  heretofore. 

4.  As  has  been  pointed  out  elsewhere,  the  per  capita  cost  of 
instruction  at  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  is,  and  has  been 
for  a  considerable  number  of  years,  about  $88.     The  very  per- 
tinent question  arises  as  to  what  effect  the  recommendations 
herein  made  would  have  upon  this  cost.     There  are  a  number  of 
considerations  to  be  taken  into  account  in  making  any  estimate 
of  the  increase  in  expense  due  to  the  proposed  changes  and  any 
statement  on  this  point  must,  of  necessity,  be  more  or  less  ten- 
tative and  conditional. 

It  is  proposed  to  reduce  the  attendance  upon  the  school  from 
1,500  to  1,200  pupils.  Assuming  that  the  total  school  at- 
tendance of  the  city  remains  stationary,  it  would  be  necessary 


52       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

for  the  School  Committee  to  find  accommodations  for  approx- 
imately 300  pupils  in  other  Boston  high  schools.  All  of  these 
pupils  could  readily  be  taken  care  of  in  the  various  suburban 
high  schools.  It  might  be  necessary,  under  the  circumstances, 
for  the  School  Committee  to  require  the  attendance  of  certain 
pupils  living  in  outlying  districts  upon  the  high  schools  of  such 
districts.  This  would  involve  a  change  from  the  present  policy 
which  permits  all  children,  wherever  located,  to  attend  the 
high  school  of  their  choice. 

In  this  connection,  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  at  an 
early  day  the  High  School  of  Commerce  will  move  into  a  new 
building  leaving  its  present  quarters  available  for  use  for  high 
school  purposes  of  any  kind  deemed  advisable  by  the  Board, 
thus  affording  accommodations  for  more  pupils  in  the  city  of 
Boston  proper,  should  this  be  found  necessary. 

It  is  also  well  to  point  out  here  that,  since  the  per  capita  expense 
at  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  is  greater  than  at  practically 
all  the  other  Boston  high  schools,  the  transfer  of  pupils  seeking 
either  a  general  high  school  education  or  preparation  for  the 
engineering  college,  from  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  to 
other  Boston  high  schools,  would  reduce  the  cost  of  instruction 
for  such  pupils  and,  to  some  extent,  offset  the  increased  cost  of 
operation  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  under  the  new  plan. 

5.  It  is  assumed  in  the  figures  which  follow  that  the  lengthen- 
ing of  the  present  school  day  from  six  to  seven  gross  hours  and 
thereby  to  six  net  hours  for  instruction  is  to  be  accomplished 
without  increasing  the  pay  of  teachers  or  the  number  of  teachers 
on  this  account.  This  means,  in  other  words,  that  the  present 
corps  of  instructors  would  be  expected  to  teach  about  one  more 
period  per  day. 

It  is  well  to  point  out  in  this  connection  that  the  total  number 
of  hours  of  instruction  required  from  the  teachers  of  the  school 
will  even  under  the  recommendations  herein  proposed  be  much 
less  than  that  now  given  by  the  teachers  of  the  Boston  Boys' 
Industrial  School  and  the  Boston  Trade  School  for  Girls. 

At  the  present  time,  an  average  of  approximately  thirty-four 
pupils  to  the  class  is  being  taught  at  an  expense  of  $88  per  pupil. 
If  the  classes  were  reduced  to  twenty-eight  pupils,  the  number  of 
teachers  required  to  take  care  of  the  same  enrollment  would  be 
increased  about  17^  per  cent.  This  would  raise  the  per  capita 


Per  Capita  Cost  of  the  School  53 

cost  from  $88  to  $103.40.  If  the  number  of  hours  of  instruction 
for  each  teacher  were  not  increased  with  the  lengthening  of  the 
school  day  herein  proposed,  there  would  also  be  necessary  an 
addition  of  about  20  per  cent  to  the  teaching  force  in  order  to 
handle  the  same  number  of  pupils.  If  we  add  20  per  cent  of 
$103.40  there  would  be  a  new  per  capita  cost  of  approximately 
$124. 

In  like  manner,  assuming  no  increase  in  teaching  force  or 
salaries  on  account  of  the  lengthening  of  the  school  day,  the 
per  capita  cost  would  be  about  $114.40,  if  the  classes  were  reduced 
to  not  more  than  twenty-four  pupils.  So,  in  the  same  way, 
should  the  classes  be  reduced  to  twenty  pupils,  the  per  capita 
cost  would  be  about  $125. 

It  should  be  pointed  out  here  that  in  the  above  estimates  no 
allowance  is  made  for  a  variable  factor  due  to. certain  fixed 
charges,  such  as  supervision,  heat,  light,  printing,  and  clerical 
hire,  the  gross  amount  of  which,  and,  therefore,  the  cost  of  which, 
would  probably  remain  about  the  same  as  in  the  present  school 
with  its  1,500  pupils.  A  reduction  of  the  total  enrollment  of 
the  school  to  1,200  would  only  slightly  reduce  these  fixed  charges 
and,  therefore,  slightly  decrease  the  above  estimates  as  to  the 
expense  per  pupil  of  operating  the  school. 


VIII 

IS  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUCH  AS 

TO  PROMISE  A  REALIZATION  OF  THE  AIM  OF 

THE  SCHOOL  COMMITTEE? 

1.  The  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  aim  of  the  school  between 
the  headmaster  and  the  School  Committee  is  taken  up  here 
with  reluctance.     Whatever  may  be  said  by  way  of  criticism  of 
the  present  work  of  the  school  it  must  be  recognized  that  manual 
training  throughout  the  country  is  undergoing  a  period  of  re- 
adjustment and  that  some  of  the  criticism  made  against  the 
school  arises  from  this  fact,  and  would  be  equally  true  of  any 
manual  training  high  school.     It  is  also  true  that  in  any  school 
situation  there  are  inherent  in  the  problem  certain  factors  that 
are  wholly  beyond  the  control  of  the  executive.     In  the  light  of 
these  facts  it  is  clear  that  the  headmaster  cannot  be  held  answer- 
able for  every  adverse  finding  made  in  this  report.     Neither 
should  it  be  forgotten  that  for  many  years  he  has  rendered  to 
the  city  distinguished  services  of  large  value.     In  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  he  has  shown  himself 
to  be  a  teacher  of  rare  insight   and  an  executive   of  unusual 
ability.     Abundant  credit  should  be  given  him  for  the  tact,  the 
skill,  and  the  incessant  labor  which  has  been  necessary  to  bring 
the  school  to  its  present  point  of  development. 

2.  The  headmaster  has  been  the  storm  center  of  the  discussion 
that  for  the  past  ten  years  has  been  waged  about  the  work  of 
this  institution.     During  that  time  there  has  been  decided  dis- 
agreement between  him  and  the  Boston  School  Committee  as 
to  the  policy  and  purpose  of  the  school;  so  much  so  that  at  times 
they  have  worked  at  cross  purposes  with  each  other.     The  evi- 
dence of  this  report  goes  to  show  that  not  only  is  the  school  fail- 
ing to  carry  out  the  aim  of  the  School  Committee,  but  that 
there  continues  to  exist  between  the  School  Committee  and  the 
headmaster  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what  the  school 
should  be  and  do. 

54 


The  Administration  of  the  School  55 

This  report  is  in  no  way  concerned  with  the  merits  of  this  con- 
troversy. It  is  thoroughly  appreciative  of  the  honesty  of  opin- 
ion and  purpose  of  all  concerned,  but  it  should  be  pointed  out 
here  that  this  difference  of  opinion  has  not,  to  say  the  least, 
contributed  to  the  efficiency  of  the  school  and  does  not  promise 
the  best  results  in  carrying  out  the  aim  of  the  Committee. 

3.  The  time  has  come  for  a  clear  and  definite  understanding 
between  the  School  Committee  and  the  headmaster  which  shall 
finally  decide  beyond  the  possibility  of  future  misunderstanding, 
the  policy  of  this  school.     It  seems  clear  that  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  a  friendly  conference  should  be  held  by  the 
School   Committee   with   the   headmaster  for  the   purpose   of 
reaching  an  understanding  on  such  points  as  these :  (a)  Does  the 
Boston  School  Committee  still  decide  after  reading  this  report 
that  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  shall  hereafter  no  longer 
be  a  preparatory  school  for  the  technical  college,  but  a  finishing 
school  training  for  important  positions  in  industry?     (b)  Does 
the  present  School  Committee  accept  as  a  general  policy  the 
recommendations  of  this  report?     And,  if  not,  what  modifica- 
tions of  the  same  should  be  made?     (c)  Does  the  headmaster 
find  himself  able  to  accept  the  policy  for  the  school  resulting 
from  the  above  decision  of  the  School  Board?     (d)  If  not,  what 
exceptions  does  he  take  to  the  decision  of  the  School  Committee? 
What  is  the  final  decision  of  the  School  Committee  with  reference 
to  such  exceptions? 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  suggest  that  these  conferences  should 
deal  with  broad  matters  of  policy  and  not  with  small  controver- 
sies and  details  of  administration.  In  making  any  decisions 
based  upon  this  report  it  should  be  recognized  that  the  discus- 
sion and  recommendations  contained  herein  deal  with  the 
problem  from  the  standpoint  of  principle  and  by  way  of  sugges- 
tion. It  is  understood,  of  course,  that  the  task  of  working  out 
the  details  of  any  plan  that  might  be  adopted  would  have  to  be 
left  to  the  headmaster  and  his  assistants. 

4.  Should  the  headmaster  find  himself  unable  for  any  reason 
to  agree  fully  with  the  policy  of  the  Committee  as  expressed  in  their 
final  decision,  he  will  doubtless  be  only  too  ready  to  ask,  and 
the  School  Committee  willing  to  grant  his  request,  that  he  be 
assigned  as  headmaster  of  some  other  Boston  high  school,  with 
whose  work  he  finds  himself  in  accord,  in  a  way  in  keeping  with 
the  distinguished  and  devoted  service  he  has  rendered  the  city. 


RECOMMENDATIONS 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

Certain  thorough-going  changes  must  gradually  be  made  in 
the  methods  of  selecting  pupils,  in  training  them  after  being 
selected,  in  placing  in  employment  those  who  receive  the  train- 
ing, and  in  following  up  during  employment  those  so  placed  in 
order  to  test  out  the  effectiveness  of  the  selection,  training, 
placement,  and  employment. 

The  school  is  not  prepared  to  make  all  the  necessary  changes  at 
once  and  an  opportunity  should  be  given  the  teachers  to  study 
the  situation.  Justice  to  the  boys  who  have  entered  the  school 
on  the  present  basis,  moreover,  requires  that  they  should  be 
allowed  to  finish  undisturbed  the  course  on  which  they  have 
entered.  It  is,  therefore,  recommended  that  the  classes  now  in 
school  be  allowed  to  graduate  on  the  present  basis  and  that  no 
changes  be  put  into  effect  until  September,  1914,  such  changes 
to  begin  with  the  class  of  1918. 

Because  of  the  imminence  of  the  next  school  year,  we  have 
undertaken  to  deal  in  some  detail  with  the  immediate  changes 
to  be  made  in  the  first  year  work.  These  changes  are  given  in 
Appendix  D  of  this  report. 

The  remaining  changes  which  this  report  will  recommend  are 
discussed  in  more  general  form  in  Appendix  B,  time  and  exper- 
ience being  required  to  work  out  the  details  of  the  later  years. 
As  the  reorganization  of  the  school  develops,  there  will  be  plenty 
of  opportunity  to  do  this. 

1.  Recommendations  as  to  methods  of  finding  the  group  to  be 
trained.  At  the  present  time  graduates  of  the  grammar  schools 
find  their  way  from  these  schools  to  the  various  high  schools  of 
the  city  in  a  haphazard  fashion.  They  go  to  such  institutions 
as  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  the  High  School  of  Commerce, 
or  the  Girls'  School  of  Practical  Arts,  for  a  variety  of  more  or 
less  accidental  reasons.  A  particular  school  is  selected  because 
it  is  near  at  hand,  or  is  attended  by  friends,  or  is  recommended 
to  be  good,  or  because  the  pupil  has  been  advised  to  go  to  it. 
To  some  extent  the  vocational  counselors  in  the  grammar  schools 


60        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

and  some  principals  are  endeavoring  to  help  in  this  important 
work  of  educational  and  vocational  guidance. 

If  Boston  is  to  operate  a  number  of  special  high  schools  hav- 
ing different  aims  and  different  courses  of  study  it  must  set  up 
the  machinery  necessary  to  secure  from  the  elementary  schools 
the  proper  product  for  the  various  high  schools.  To  have  the 
right  kind  of  raw  material  to  work  on  is  just  as  necessary  for  a 
school  as  it  is  for  a  factory. 

To  accomplish  this  purpose  adequate  means  should  be  pro- 
vided for  the  educational  direction  as  well  as  the  vocational 
guidance  of  grammar  school  pupils.  Such  guidance  should  prop- 
erly begin  with  direction  to  the  right  kind  of  school  of  higher 
grade  including,  of  course,  the  Industrial  School  for  Boys,  the 
Trade  School  for  Girls,  and  the  continuation  schools,  as  well  as 
the  various  high  schools.  Guidance  should  include  not  only 
placing  in  a  high  school,  but  also  the  transfer  of  those  pupils 
who  are  found  to  be  misplaced. 

As  the  first  step  in  such  a  program  the  School  Committee 
should  set  up  a  clear  definition  of  the  aim  of  each  school,  both 
general  and  special,  in  terms  of  the  vocations,  or  the  avenues  to 
vocations,  to  which  each  leads.  These  definitions  should  then 
be  legislated  into  the  educational  policy  of  the  School  Committee, 
subject  to  change  as  the  necessity  arises. 

The  aim  of  each  school  having  been  defined  there  should  be 
organized  a  committee  on  vocational  guidance  to  serve  as  a 
clearing  house  on  all  matters  that  have  to  do  with  the  guidance 
of  grammar  school  pupils  to  the  various  other  schools,  their 
admission  to  such  schools  and  their  transfer  from  one  to  another. 

Such  a  committee  might  well  be  directed  by  one  of  the 
assistant  superintendents  of  schools  detailed  for  the  purpose, 
and  might  consist  of  the  vocational  counselors  or  the  principals 
of  the  various  high  schools,  or  both,  and  the  vocational  coun- 
selors or  principals  of  the  grammar  schools. 

In  order  effectively  to  perform  its  work  the  committee  on 
vocational  guidance  might  well  put  into  operation  such  plans 
and  devices  as  those  discussed  in  Appendix  H  of  this  report. 
In  addition  to  these  measures,  and  others  commonly  practised 
by  vocational  counselors,  it  is  recommended  that  there  be 
made  an  analysis  of  various  occupations  and  their  requirements, 
and  the  preparation  offered  by  different  schools;  and  that  the 


Recommendations  61 

results  be  charted  for  use  in  the  various  grammar  schools. 
Such  an  analysis  has  been  made  by  the  school  department  of 
Los  Angeles,  of  the  different  occupations  and  the  preparation 
for  them  offered  by  the  various  schools  in  that  city.  Attention 
is  also  called  to  the  talks  on  various  vocations  given  in  the  schools 
of  Winnipeg  by  men  outside  the  schools.  These  talks  are  printed 
for  distribution  to  the  pupils. 

An  important  responsibility  of  the  guidance  committee 
would  be  the  transfer  to  other  schools  of  those  pupils  who  were 
found  to  be  misfits.  This  would  not  only  necessitate  frequent 
conference  between  parents  and  teachers,  but  also  careful  ob- 
servation of  the  work  of  the  pupil  during  the  first  few  weeks  in 
the  school,  both  before  and  after  his  transfer. 

It  should  also  be  the  duty  of  the  committee  to  see  that  the 
pupil  transferred  from  one  school  to  another  secured  in  the 
new  school  favorable  entrance  in  regard  to  such  matters  as 
proper  credit  for  work  done,  assistance  in  adjusting  himself  to 
his  new  environment,  and  a  reasonable  period  of  trial.1 

2.  Recommendations  as  to  the  training  to  be  given.  It  has 
clearly  been  demonstrated  that  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
is  neither  necessary  nor  desirable  as  a  preparatory  school  for 
the  engineering  college.  This  report,  therefore,  recommends 
that  the  school  give  up  any  attempt  to  fit  boys  for  such  insti- 
tutions, and  confine  its  training  to  the  preparation  of  boys  who, 
on  graduating  from  the  school,  intend  to  go  directly  into  industry 
on  the  business  and  directive  side. 

To  this  end  it  is  recommended  that  the  present  course  of  study 
be  abolished  year  by  year  and  that  a  new  course  be  organized 
in  accordance  with  the  aim  of  the  School  Committee. 


1  While  this  report  recommends  that  pupils  who  wish  to  flt  for  the  engineering 
college  be  not  admitted  to  the  school,  If  they  are  admitted,  they  should  be  required 
to  take  for  two  years  the  same  course  as  other  pupils  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  be 
transferred  to  the  English  High  School  or  other  Boston  high  schools  to  complete 
their  college  preparation.  In  this  way  the  interests  of  those  boys  who,  after  being 
admitted  to  the  school  wish  to  prepare  for  the  engineering  college  as  well  as  those 
who  plan  to  go  directly  into  industry,  will  be  best  served. 

If,  in  order  to  carry  out  this  recommendation,  it  should  be  necessary  to  enlarge 
the  facilities  of  the  English  High  School,  this  can  be  accomplished  with  greater  ease 
and  at  less  cost  than  any  other  plan  for  accommodating  those  pupils  who  seek  prep- 
aration for  the  engineering  college.  Some  time  ago  a  similar  plan  was  proposed  by 
the  headmaster  as  a  possible  method  for  preparing  boys  for  the  Classical  College  in 
conjunction  with  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School.  (See  report  of  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School.  1901.  pp.  23-24.) 


62        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

The  immediate  aim  of  the  course  should  be  to  develop  in  the 
pupil  an  appreciation  of  the  problems  and  quantities  involved 
in  manufacturing  and  the  capacity  to  "size  up"  and  deal  in 
classroom,  laboratory,  and  shop,  with  the  kind  of  situations 
that  present  themselves  in  productive  industry. 

As  already  noted  the  course  should  include  instruction  in 
English,  mathematics,  drafting,  science,  industrial  history, 
applied  economics,  citizenship,  business  organization  and  prac- 
tice, shop  organization  and  practice,  and  practical  shop  work  in 
wood,  metal,  and  power.  All  other  subjects  now  in  the  course 
of  study  should  be  omitted.  The  subjects  mentioned  above  are 
more  fully  discussed  on  pages  28  to  37  of  this  report,  and  in  Ap- 
pendix B  is  given  in  more  or  less  detail  suggestions  concerning 
the  scope  and  character  of  the  subject  matter.  It  is  recom- 
mended that  the  content  of  the  various  subjects  be  worked  out 
along  the  lines  suggested  throughout  the  report. 

The  course  should  be  four  years  in  length  and,  with  the  ex- 
ceptions noted  below,  the  same  work  should  be  prescribed  for 
every  boy.  In  general  the  time  should  be  about  equally  divided 
between  practical  shop  work  instruction  in  applied  science, 
drawing,  and  subjects  directly  related  to  the  shop  work  and 
instruction  in  the  other  and  more  general  subjects  of  the  course, 
one-third  of  the  time  being  given  to  each. 

There  should  be  at  least  six  full  hours  of  instruction  in  the 
school,  not  less  than  two  of  which  should  be  given  to  shop  work. 
It  should  be  pointed  out  in  this  connection  that  a  longer  day 
with  a  corresponding  increase  of  shop  time  would  undoubtedly 
produce  even  better  results.  In  the  fourth  year,  a  pupil  inter- 
ested in  some  one  industry  common  to  Boston,  might  well  be 
allowed  to  specialize  in  that  industry  and,  wherever  possible, 
give  a  part  of  his  time  to  partial  employment  in  that  occupa- 
tion, which  employment  shall  be  credited  in  the  school. 

The  methods  of  instruction  which  this  report  recommends 
have  already  been  discussed  at  some  length  on  pages  37  to  42. 
Further  suggestions  as  to  method  are  given  in  Appendix  C. 

3.  Recommendations  as  to  employment  and  vocational  guid- 
ance. One  of  the  most  important  responsibilities  of  the  school 
is  the  placing  in  employment  of  its  graduates  and  those  who 
leave  the  school  before  completing  the  course.  To  market  its 
product  and  do  it  properly  is  as  much  the  business  of  a  special 


Recommendations  63 

school  as  it  is  that  of  an  industry.  The  only  way  in  which  the 
school  can  get  any  adequate  measure  of  the  efficiency  of  its 
training,  moreover,  is  by  the  success  in  industry  of  the  boys 
whom  it  sends  out.  This  not  only  requires  that  pupils  shall  be 
properly  trained,  but  that  they  shall  also  be  assisted  to  advan- 
tageous employment. 

It  is,  therefore,  recommended  that  there  be  organized  within 
the  school  a  bureau  for  the  placing  of  pupils.  This  bureau 
might  well  be  in  charge  of  a  vocational  counselor  employed 
for  the  purpose  or  of  some  member  of  the  faculty  who  possessed 
special  qualification  for  the  work  and  who  had  been  sufficiently 
relieved  of  his  regular  teaching  to  allow  him  to  attend  to  his  new 
duties.  The  director  of  the  bureau  should  have  at  his  disposal 
all  the  clerical  assistance  necessary  and  he  should  be  further 
assisted  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  by  a  committee  from  the 
faculty  acting  mainly  in  an  advisory  capacity.  From  time  to 
time  he  should  also  seek  the  assistance  and  advice  of  the  general 
advisory  board  to  the  school.  In  this  connection  attention  is 
called  to  the  fact  that  the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  school 
committee  for  the  Boston  Trade  School  for  Girls  provides  for 
a  vocational  assistant  for  each  150  pupils. 

It  should  be  the  business  of  the  placement  bureau  to  handle 
all  business  that  has  to  do  with  the  guidance  and  placement  of 
boys  on  leaving  the  school.  This  would  include  such  things, 
among  others,  as  the  following: 

(a)  Keeping  records  of  such  matters  as: 

The  boy's  school  history  and  experience,  including  the 
data  obtained  at  the  time  of  entrance  by  the  school  from 
the  vocational  guidance  committee  in  the  grammar  school. 

The  economic  conditions  of  the  home. 

Health,  eyesight,  physical  defects. 

Mechanical,  executive,  and  business  ability,  so  far  as 
these  can  be  determined. 

General  characteristics. 

(b)  Visits  to  the  pupil's  home. 

(c)  Visits  to  his  place  of  employment. 

(d)  Conferences  with  the  boy,  with  his  parents,  and  with  his 
employer. 

(e)  Analysis  and  charting  of  various  occupations,  especially  as 
to  health  requirements  and  also  the  reaction  of  the  employment 
upon  the  pupil's  health. 


64        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

(f)  Records  and  information  as  to  market  conditions  with  re- 
spect to  the  kind  of  labor  the  school  is  endeavoring  to  market. 

(g)  Advertising  the  school's  product. 

(h)  Enlisting  the  interest  and  co-operation  of  employers  in 
placing  boys. 

(i)  Follow-up  records  of  boys  after  they  have  entered  the 
industry,  in  order  to  determine  such  things  as:  Increase  in 
wage,  conditions  of  employment,  causes  of  failure,  and  what 
modifications,  if  any,  appear  to  be  necessary  in  the  training 
given.  These  data  are  also  important  as  guides  for  future 
placement. 

4.  Recommendations  as  to  equipment.  This  report  cannot  go 
into  detail  as  to  the  alterations  that  should  be  made  in  the  shop 
equipment,  but  some  of  the  more  important  changes  follow. 
In  order  that  shops  may  properly  serve  the  aim  of  the  Committee 
much  of  the  present  duplicated  equipment  should  be  removed. 
The  smaller  lathes  in  the  machine  shops  should  be  supplemented 
by  heavier  lathes,  milling  machines,  drill  presses,  planers,  and 
grinders.  Many  of  the  benches  should  be  taken  out  ofthe  wood- 
working shops  in  order  to  provide  necessary  working  space. 
Forging  should  be  carried  on  in  close  relation  to  the  work  of  the 
machine  shop.  To  do  this  some  of  the  forges  now  in  use  should 
be  disposed  of  and  the  space  thus  gained  used  for  subsidiary 
machines. 

Every  facility  of  the  power  plant  in  the  school,  including 
the  engine  room  and  the  boiler  room,  should  be  used  for  prac- 
tice training  in  power  and  applied  science.  Additional  power 
equipment,  for  experimental  and  demonstration  purposes,  in  the 
form  of  gasoline  engines,  small  steam  engines,  steam  pumps,  and 
generators,  should  be  installed  and  more  or  less  equipment  of  a 
commercial  character  should  be  added  to  the  science  labora- 
tories. A  suitable  shop  should  be  furnished  for  printing  and 
the  present  equipment  greatly  enlarged.  There  is  ample  room 
in  the  building  for  this  purpose. 

Wherever  possible  a  drafting  room  and  a  recitation  room 
should  be  provided  in  close  proximity  to  each  shop  in  order 
more  readily  to  effect  a  close  correlation  between  the  shop  work 
and  the  related  technical  work.  To  gain  the  necessary  room 
for  this  purpose  space  could  be  taken  in  the  recent  addition  to 
the  school  building,  now  used  almost  entirely  by  academic 


Recommendations  65 

classes,  for  some  of  the  science  laboratories,  and,  if  structural 
reasons  do  not  prevent,  for  wood-working  shops. 

5.  Recommendations  as  to  part-time  instruction. 

(a)  Attention  is  here  called  to  the  large  possibilities  that  pre- 
sent themselves  in  training  for  industrial  careers  through  part- 
time  classses  in  which  the  employed  pupil,  by  an  arrangement 
similar  to  that  now  practised  in  many  industrial  schools,  spends 
from  ten  to  fifty  per  cent  of  his  working  time  in  the  school. 
This  plan  would  give  him  an  excellent  opportunity,  while  at 
work,  to  gain  valuable  practical  experience  in  the  various  phases 
of  business  as  applied  to  manufacturing  as  well  as  insight  into 
shop  processes.     The  experience  thus  gained,  the  school  would 
supplement  by  classroom  instruction  in  related  subjects  of  the 
character  discussed  in  the  Appendix  of  this  report.     (Appendix 
B.) 

(b)  All  the  arguments  commonly  advanced  in  support  of  the 
part-time  school  for  trade  workers  apply  here  with  even  greater 
force.     Such  a  plan  would  afford  a  means  of  utilizing  the  ex- 
pensive equipment  of  the  school  and  the  building  to  its  fullest 
capacity,  it  being  possible  to  use  them,  not  only  during  regular 
school  hours,  but  also  during  the  time  the  regular  school  is  not 
in  session;  it  would  hold  in  the  school  many  boys  who,  for  eco- 
nomic reasons,  now  drop  out  before  completing  the  course;  it 
would  keep  the  school  in  touch  with  industry  and  bring  to  it  an 
industrial  atmosphere  to  a  degree  not  otherwise  obtainable;  it 
would  materially  reduce  the  cost  of  training  many  pupils;  and 
it  would  make  possible  training  in  certain  lines,  like  the  manu- 
facture of  boots  and  shoes,  which  because  of  the  character  of 
the  industry,  might  not  otherwise  be  possible  within  the  school. 

This  part-time  arrangement  might  be  of  either  or  both  of  two 
different  kinds.  Boys  in  the  industry  can  be  brought  to  the 
school  for  class  instructions.  Boys  in  the  school  could  be 
received  into  the  industry  to  get  commercial  experience. 

Doubtless  many  employers  in  and  around  Boston  would  be 
found  ready  and  willing  to  co-operate  with  the  school  in  a  scheme 
of  this  kind.  At  the  present  time  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
carries  on  no  part-time  work  of  any  description.  This  report 
recommends  that  at  an  early  date,  steps  be  taken  to  establish 
part-time  work  of  the  character  here  suggested. 


APPENDICES 


APPENDIX  A 


THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL  AS  A  PREPARA- 
TORY SCHOOL  FOR  THE  TECHNICAL  COLLEGE 

It  has  been  pointed  out  in  this  report  that  the  Mechanic  Arts 
High  School  has  been  used  as  a  preparatory  school  for  the  engi- 
neering college  on  the  theory  that  it  was  necessary  or  desirable 
as  such.  This  theory  is  not  borne  out  by  the  evidence. 

In  the  report  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
for  1911  is  given  a  table  setting  forth  the  records  in  that  institu- 
tion made  during  the  past  twelve  years  by  students  who  have 
received  their  preparatory  training  in  the  various  high  schools 
in  and  around  Boston.  This  table  follows: 

MASSACHUSETTS  INSTITUTE  OF  TECHNOLOGY 

Standing  of  Students  in  Certain  Preparatory  Schools 


Standing  of  Students  who 

graduated  indicated  by 

Per  cent  of 

the  deviation  from  the 

Number 

Per  cent 

Failures. 

average    on    an    arbi- 

Entering 

Graduat- 
ing 

(This  includes 
all  who  left 
in  poor 

trary  scale;  +  moans 
above  the  average  and 
—  below  the  average. 

standing.) 

During 

During 

first 

whole 

year 

course 

Boston  Public  Schools.  .  . 

577 

53 

36 

+6 

+2 

A 

English  High  

200 

61 

28 

+  16 

+2 

Mechanic  Arts  High.  .  . 

234 

45 

44 

—22 

—3 

B 

Brighton  High.  .  .  9  ' 

Charlestown  High  8 

Dorchester  High..  27 

East  Boston  High.  15 

108 

50 

38 

+  16 

+3 

Roxbury  High.  ...  40 

South  Boston  High  4 

W.  Roxbury  High  5  . 

C 

Girls'  High  

13 

69 

31 

+  149 

+58 

Latin  (Boys) 

22 

73 

23 

+  11 

+2 

C  

35 

71 

26 

+61 

+12 

B  and  C  

143 

55 

35 

+30 

+9 

Suburban  Schools  

407 

61 

31 

—8 

—3 

70       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

From  an  examination  of  this  table  it  appears  that  the  best 
preparatory  school  for  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology is  the  Girls'  Latin  School.  The  others  graded  in  order 
of  merit  from  this  standpoint  are:  The  Boys'  Latin  School,  the 
English  High  School,  the  General  High  Schools,  and  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School. 

It  is  apparent  from  these  figures  that  the  English  High  School 
is  preparing  very  nearly  as  many  boys  for  the  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology as  is  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  and  that  it  is  doing 
it  more  effectively.  The  pertinent  question  arises:  Why 
duplicate  its  work? 

It  is  also  evident  from  this  table  that  all  the  other  general 
high  schools  of  Boston  are  offering  adequate  preparation  for  the 
Institute  of  Technology.  If  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
were  to  discontinue  its  preparatory  course  for  the  engineering 
college  it  would  be  comparatively  easy  for  a  boy  to  obtain  the 
necessary  preparation  elsewhere.  Under  these  conditions  it 
would  seem  as  if  the  burden  of  proof  rests  upon  the  Mechanic 
Artg  High  School  to  show  that  it  is  either  necessary  or  desir- 
able for  it  to  offer  preparation  for  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology  or  any  other  engineering  school. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  the  table  referred  to  above  is  based 
upon  the  records  made  in  one  institution  only  and  that  it  would 
be  unfair  to  draw  hard  and  fast  conclusions  from  these  data. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  significant  as  indicating  that  the  manual 
training  high  schools  and  the  technical  high  schools  have  not 
as  yet  demonstrated  any  superiority  over  the  regular  high  school 
in  preparing  boys  for  the  engineering  college. 

This  position  is  further  supported  by  the  dean  of  the  Engineer- 
ing School  at  Tufts  College  and  ex-President  Hamilton  of  Tufts 
College,  who  express  themselves  as  being  satisfied  with  the  kind 
of  preparation  offered  by  the  general  high  school,  and  who  also 
say  that  training  in  shop  work  is  practically  valueless  as  a  prep- 
aration for  the  engineering  college  unless  such  work  is  closely 
correlated  with  physics,  mathematics,  and  drawing. 

Based  upon  considerable  discussion  with  the  presidents  and 
members  of  the  faculties  of  various  engineering  colleges,  this 
report  offers  an  explanation  of  why  the  general  high  school  is 
more  successful  as  a  preparatory  school  for  the  engineering 
college  than  are  schools  like  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 


Appendix  A  71 

It  is  admitted  that  this  explanation  only  represents  the  opin- 
ion of  the  writer  and  is  not  based  upon  sufficient  evidence  to  be 
conclusive. 

Taking  the  engineering  colleges  of  the  country  as  a  whole,  it 
may  be  said  without  fear  of  successful  contradiction  that  they 
are  seeking  the  student  with  the  same  type  of  mind  as  is  the 
college  of  liberal  arts.  Both  institutions  are  looking  for  the 
man  who  has  the  capacity  to  deal  with  abstractions  on  paper. 

The  only  difference  in  the  kind  of  work  done  by  these  two 
institutions  is  in  the  subject  matter  studied.  Both  are  training 
the  students  to  think,  on  the  whole,  in  abstractions;  at  the  engi- 
neering college,  in  the  field  of  physical  phenomena,  at  the  college 
of  liberal  arts,  in  the  field  of  social  and  mental  phenomena. 
The  subject  matter  with  which  each  deals  is  different,  but  the 
process  is  the  same,  and  the  kind  of  mind  required  to  carry  on 
the  process  successfully  in  both  cases  is  the  same.  It  is  true 
that  the  engineering  college  expects  the  graduate  to  deal  with 
practical  problems,  but  it  holds  that,  in  order  to  do  this,  he  must 
have  the  capacity  to  master  in  the  school  as  organized  knowledge 
the  theory  lying  back  of  such  problems. 

The  engineering  school,  therefore,  lays  its  emphasis  upon  the 
two  tasks  of  selecting  the  man  with  the  power  to  do  its  work  and 
of  teaching  the  theory  underlying  engineering  problems. 

Abundant  evidence  that  the  engineering  college  wants  the 
same  type  of  mind  as  the  college  of  liberal  arts  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  in  general,  with  the  exception  of  Latin  and  Greek,  both 
institutions  set  up  essentially  the  same  kind  of  entrance  require- 
ments; they  use  the  same  methods  of  testing  applicants  for 
admission  and  the  same  methods  of  appraising  the  results  of 
the  examination;  they  give  little  or  no  credit  to  any  form  of  prac- 
tical experience  and,  on  the  whole,  the  candidates  who  can  suc- 
cessfully meet  the  entrance  requirements  of  one  institution  can 
with  equal  success  meet  those  of  the  other.  Further  evidence 
is  also  found  in  the  fact  that  both  the  engineering  colleges  and 
the  classical  colleges  accept  for  entrance  the  examination  tests  of 
certain  college  entrance  boards. 

When  a  city  like  Boston  adopts  the  policy  of  special  high 
schools  and  establishes  a  system  of  free  choice  of  schools  by  pupils, 
most  of  those  children  having,  in  the  main,  the  greatest  interest 
in  books  and  the  largest  capacity  to  deal  with  abstractions,  will 


72        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

find  their  way  to  such  high  schools  as  the  Latin  schools,  and  to 
certain  courses,  at  least,  in  the  English  High  School.  On  the 
other  hand,  most  of  those  pupils  who  are  "concrete" — rather 
than  "abstract-minded,"  and  who  gain  knowledge  most  ef- 
fectively when  coupled  with  manual  work,  will  find  their  way 
to  such  schools  as  the  High  School  of  Practical  Arts,  the  Girls' 
Trade  School,  the  High  School  of  Commerce,  and  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School. 

An  examination  of  the  grammar  school  records  of  pupils  who 
enter  these  schools  shows  this  to  be  true.  The  headmaster  of 
the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  also  appears  to  concur  in  this 
opinion.1 

Furthermore,  all  the  time  given  to  shop  work  in  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School  not  only  receives  practically  no  recognition 
from  the  Engineering  School,  but  represents  time  taken  away 
from  the  academic  studies  which  the  School  does  require  and 
upon  which  it  tests  the  candidate  for  admission.  The  school 
day  is  practically  the  same  length  at  the  Mechanic  Arts  High 
School  and  at  other  Boston  high  schools,  like  the  English  High 
School.  About  one-third  the  time  at  the  Mechanic  Arts  is  given 
to  shop  work.  This  means  that  the  pupils  of  the  school  have 
only  about  two-thirds  of  the  time  for  classroom  instruction  in 
studies  preparatory  to  the  Engineering  School  which  the  pupils 
of  other  Boston  high  schools  receive. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  not  strange  to  find  a  larger 
proportion  of  students  from  the  other  Boston  high  schools  than 
from  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  making  successful  records 
in  the  Engineering  School.  This  is  in  no  sense  a  reflection 
upon  the  many  creditable  students  from  the  Mechanic  Arts 
High  School  who  have  graduated  from  the  engineering  college, 
nor  upon  the  character  of  the  instruction  offered  in  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School,  but  is  rather  an  explanation  of  why  under  the 
present  standards  set  up  by  the  Engineering  School,  at  least, 
it  is  erroneous  to  assume  that  such  an  institution  as  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School  is  needed  to  prepare  boys  for  it. 


1  "The  boy  best  adapted  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  has  been  rather  more  likely  to  go  to  other  schools,  particularly  the  Eng- 
lish High,  than  to  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School." — Replies  to  questionaire  by  the 
headmaster,  Appendix  E. 


Appendix  B  73 

APPENDIX  B 
SUGGESTIONS  CONCERNING  THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY 

The  following  lists  of  topics  are  intended  to  be  suggestive 
merely.  They  indicate  the  direction  in  which  the  different  sub- 
jects to  be  taught  should  be  developed.  No  attempt  is  made  to 
name  the  various  topics  in  order  of  their  importance  or  with 
reference  to  the  relative  time  to  be  given  to  each. 

1.  Business  practice.    The   pupil  should   be  trained   in   the 
elementary  principles  of  business  procedure.     In  order  to  meet 
immediate  and  future  demands  on  the  business  side  of  his  calling, 
he  should  be  taught  in  the  school  such  things,  among  many 
others,  as  the  following: 

How  to  draw  a  check. 

The  meaning  of  debit  and  credit. 

How  to  make  a  bank  deposit. 

How  to  file  letters. 

How  to  write  telegrams. 

How  to  handle  business  over  the  telephone. 

How  to  draw  notes  and  bills. 

How  to  draw  specifications  and  bids. 

Office  rules  and  regulations. 

Office  organization. 

2.  Business   organization.     When   the   boy   enters   industrial 
life  he  needs  to  be  equipped  with  an  elementary  knowledge  of 
how  business  deals  with  questions  of  its  own  organization.     This 
equipment  might  be  represented  by  many  such  things  as: 

The  organization  of  a  company. 

The  issuing  of  stocks  and  bonds. 

The  borrowing  of  money  and  issuing  of  credit  by  banks  or 
manufacturers. 

The  drawing  of  contracts. 

The  organization  of  the  business  force  from  the  board  of 
dirctors  to  the  office  force,  including  such  questions  as  the 
proper  assignment  of  powers  and  the  distribution  of  responsi- 
bility. 

Inspecting,  auditing,  and  accounting. 

Salesmanship,  including  the  organization  and  direction  of 
the  selling  force. 

The  campaign  for  foreign  markets. 


74        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

3.  Applied  economics.     On   leaving   the   school   the    boy    is 
going  out  into  industry  where  he  will  be  brought  in  close  contact 
with  the  economics  of  production.     He,   therefore,   needs  an 
elementary  knowledge  of  applied  economics  such  as  might  be 
represented  by  many  such  things  as: 

Accidents  in  industry. 
Factory  regulation  for  Massachusetts. 
Employers'  Liability  and  Workmen's  Compensation. 
The  history,  status,  and  purpose  of  trade  unions. 
Equitable  relations  between  capital  and  labor. 
The  health  of  the  worker. 
The  minimum  wage. 
The  I.  W.  W.  movement. 
Co-operation  and  profit  sharing. 
Raw  materials,  wages,  and  credit. 
Laws  of  supply  and  demand. 
Sources  of  raw  material. 
Marketing  of  products. 

The  selection  and  training  of  workers  and  social  welfare 
work  in  industry. 

4.  Industrial  and   general  history.     Every  young  man  facing 
life  needs  to  understand  the  significant  events  of  the  past  that 
have  led  to  our  own  age.     The  best  thought  of  our  day  has  come 
to  recognize  that  this  knowledge  can  best  be  given  to  him,  not 
through  the  meaningless  recital  of  the  wars  and  amours  of  kings, 
but  through  the  study  of  events  as  the  result  of  deep-seated 
economic  causes,  out  of  which  all  social  and  political  changes 
have  evolved.     The  history  taught  in  the  school,  even  when  it 
deals  with  the  remote  past,  should  have  a  distinct  economic 
bias.     It  might  be  said  in  passing  that  this  method  of  approach 
in  the  teaching  of  history  is  approved  to-day,  as  being  the  sound- 
est and  most  effective. 

It  is  especially  necessary  that  the  intelligent  young  man 
entering  upon  an  industrial  career,  being  concerned,  as  he  will 
be,  with  the  wider  phases  of  its  economic  and  industrial  activ- 
ities, should  have  as  a  background  a  thorough  understanding 
and  appreciation  of  the  great  economic  movements  of  our  his- 
tory, from  which  have  resulted  our  present  commercial  and 
industrial  organizations  and  practices. 

In  addition  to  the  general  history  above  described,  he  should 
know  such  special  aspects  of  history  as  the  following: 


Appendix  B  75 

The  history  of  industry  in  New  England. 
The  history,  causes,  and  effects  of  specialization  in  industry. 
The  history  of  the  evolution  of  industry. 
The  history,  status,  and  purpose  of  trade  unionism. 
The  history  of  the  changing  ethical  basis  and  relationship 
of  capital  and  labor. 

5.  Shop  organization.     Since  the  "non-commissioned  officer" 
is  to  deal  in  one  capacity  or  another  with  the  problems  of  the 
commercial  shop,  he  needs  training  in  shop  organization.     In- 
struction of  this  kind  should  be  given  in  the  classroom  through 
text-book  study,  by  study  of  the  school  plant,  through  lectures 
by  experts  from  outside  shops,  and  by  visitation  and  special 
study,  under  direction,  of  outside  plants.     This  training  should 
include  the  study  of  such  things  as  the  following: 

The  purchase  of  raw  materials  and  equipment. 

Local  markets  for  the  purchase  of  raw  material  and  the 
distribution  of  the  finished  product. 

The  selection  and  arrangement  of  equipment. 

The  adaptation  of  plant. 

The  selection  and  use  of  power. 

The  routing  of  materials  through  shops. 

The  organization  of  the  stock  room  and  the  tool  room. 

Practical  methods  of  selecting,  training,  and  managing 
workers. 

Methods  of  safeguarding  against  accidents. 

Shop  sanitation,  light,  and  hygiene. 

Scientific  management,  its  field  and  its  limitations. 

6.  Citizenship.     Both  as  a  future  citizen  and  a  prospective 
industrial  worker,  the  pupil  should  have  an  elementary  practical 
knowledge  as  contrasted  with  an  academic  knowledge  of  the 
problems  involved  in  civic  affairs  with  which  his  life  and  work 
are  certain  to  be  connected.     The  following  are  illustrative  of 
the  many  things  he  should  be  taught: 

The  levying  and  collecting  of  taxes. 

Factory  regulations  and  labor  laws. 

How  a  city  conducts  its  business  so  as  to  safeguard  against 
contagious  diseases,  polluted  water  supply,  contaminated  food, 
unwholesome  milk,  fire,  sewage,  crime,  and  accidents. 

How  a  city  uses  the  contributions  of  science  to  promote 
the  well-being  of  the  citizen. 

How  to  vote. 

Responsibility  of  the  citizen  for  the  welfare  of  his  neighbor. 


76        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

How  the  city  deals  with  such  problems  as  the  following: 
electing  its  officers;  making  and  enforcing  laws;  collecting  taxes ; 
expending  revenues;  safe-guarding  life,  limb,  property,  and 
morals. 

How  the  state  organizes  itself  to  accomplish  the  above 
mentioned  purposes. 

How  the  national  government  deals  with  such  problems  as 
the  following:  conservation  of  physical  and  human  resources; 
immigration;  the  securing  of  good  servants;  securing  of  revenue. 

7.  Science.     Success  in  modern  industry  requires  a  working 
knowledge  of  the  use  of  science,  particularly  physics,  chemistry, 
and  electricity  as  a  branch  of  physics,  in  their  application  to 
such  things  as: 

Strength  and  properties  of  material;  design,  construction,  and 
operation  of  tools,  machines,  and  engines;  the  generation,  dis- 
tribution, and  consumption  of  power;  the  construction,  sanita- 
tion, ventilation,  and  lighting  of  buildings;  the  manufacture  of 
special  products;  the  utilization  of  by-products  and  waste; 
modern  means  of  transportation  and  communication;  the 
properties,  production,  and  use  of  fuels  like  coal,  oil,  and  gas; 
the  manufacture,  distribution,  and  consumption  of  light;  the 
properties;  production  and  use  of  building  material  like  cement, 
concrete,  tiling,  stucco,  brick,  and  structural  steel. 

To  meet  this  need  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  should  give 
a  four-year  course  of  instruction.  The  first  year  should  deal  in 
general  with  simple  mechanics  and  the  properties  of  materials; 
the  second  year  in  general  with  the  development  and  applica- 
tion of  heat,  light,  and  power,  including  steam,  electricity,  and 
gas;  the  third  year  in  general  should  give  instruction  in  industrial 
chemistry  and  the  strength  of  materials.  The  fourth  year's 
work  should  aim  to  unify  and  organize  the  more  practical  ex- 
perience of  the  previous  years.  It  should  also  give  more  ad- 
vanced instruction  of  an  intensive  and  quantitative  character 
in  mechanics,  industrial  chemistry,  and  power,  and  should  equip 
the  student  with  an  understanding  of  the  theory  and  law  lying 
back  of  the  physical  and  chemical  phenomena  encountered  in  his 
previous  study. 

8.  Mathematics.    This  course  should  be  a  finishing  course  and 
should  aim  to  give  the  pupil  a  command  of  those  parts  of  the 
subject  he  will  need  as  a  working  tool  in  his  business  and  as  a  part 
of  his  equipment  to  meet  opportunities  for  promotion  and  the 


Appendix  B  77 

changing  requirements  of  industry.  He  should  have  the  power 
to  use  mathematics  in  its  application  to  such  questions  in  in- 
dustry as  the  following: 

How  to  figure  costs  of  raw  materials,  transportation,  fuel, 
v/ages,  power,  waste,  advertising,  selling,  collections,  insurance, 
depreciation,  taxes,  miscellaneous  losses,  profits,  dividends  and 
interest,  fuel  values,  horse  power  and  efficiency  of  engines  and 
machines,  repairs  and  construction;  how  to  solve  trade  problems 
involving  such  things  as  indexing,  change  gears,  speeds,  and  feeds, 
taper  turning,  belting,  shafting,  speed  indicators,  electrical  line 
losses,  heating  surfaces,  indicator  cards;  how  to  take  off  quan- 
tities from  plans  and  specifications;  how  to  figure  the  strength 
of  building  materials;  how  to  keep  such  records  as  timebook, 
stockroom  account,  payroll,  and  simple  office  accounts;  how  to 
use  tables  of  all  kinds  dealing  with  logarithms,  strength  of 
materials,  square  root,  interest;  how  to  use  other  sources  of 
mathematical  information  in  handbooks,  catalogues,  order  and 
discount  sheets;  the  proper  use  and  interpretation  of  graphs  and 
diagrams;  the  use  of  mathematical  instruments  such  as  slide 
rule  and  planimeter;  the  applications  of  mathematics  to  the 
mechanics  of  machine  design  and  building  construction. 

The  instruction  in  mathematics  referred  to  above  might  well 
cover  the  first  three  years  of  the  course.  This  should  be  followed 
by  a  course  which  aims  to  organize  and  systematize  the  applied 
mathematics  with  which  the  pupil  during  the  preceding  years 
has  been  dealing  and  to  give  him  some  insight  into  mathematics 
as  an  exact  science.  Throughout  the  entire  year,  the  work  in 
mathematics  should  be  intimately  related  to  the  practical  work 
of  the  shops. 

It  is  expected  that  this  instruction  would  involve  the  teach- 
ing of  such  mathematical  methods  and  concepts  as  the  follow- 
ing: a  review  of  such  arithmetical  processes  as  decimals,  frac- 
tions, square  root,  percentage,  etc.;  the  mensuration  and  con- 
struction of  plane  figures;  the  fundamental  algebraic  processes; 
the  meaning  and  manipulation  of  formulas,  linear  and  quad- 
ratic equations,  exponents  and  roots,  rates  and  proportion,  the 
recognition  of  geometrical  figures,  similar  plane  figures  and 
similar  solids. 

No  attempt  is  here  made  to  lay  out  the  work  by  years,  as  the 
order  in  which  the  different  topics  should  be  taken  up  depends 


78       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

more  upon  the  shop,  the  engine  room,  and  the  laboratory  work 
than  it  does  upon  the  mathematical  sequence  of  such  topics. 
In  general,  the  instruction  of  the  first  year  might  well  throw  the 
emphasis  on  the  arithmetical  phases  of  the  work,  in  the  second 
year  on  the  algebraic,  and  in  the  third  year  on  the  geometrical. 
No  hard  and  fast  line,  however,  should  be  drawn  between  the 
instruction  of  the  separate  years. 

9.  Drawing.     A  graduate  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
will  not  usually  be  a  professional  draftsman.     His  use  of  draw- 
ing will  for  the  most  part  be  that  of  the  intelligent  consumer 
rather  than  the  designer  or  the  producer  of  finished  working 
drawings.     On  the  other  hand  he  must  in  addition  be  able  to 
use  drawing  as  a  tool  in  the  accomplishment  of  practical  work 
and  as  a  means  of  representing  his  ideas  in  a  clear  and  accurate 
way.    The  knowledge  he  requires  might  be  represented  by  many 
such  things  as  these: 

Ability  to  make  free  hand  sketches. 

Ability  to  draw  to  scale. 

The  making  and  tracing  of  blue  prints. 

Reading  and  checking  blue  prints  and  taking  off  quanti- 
ties. 

Making  drawings  from  specifications  and  specifications 
from  drawings. 

In  order  to  be  able  to  deal  with  the  architect,  the  engineer, 
and  other  technical  experts  on  an  intelligent  footing,  he  should 
understand  in  what  way  drawing  is  a  factor  in  the  shop,  in  build- 
ing construction,  and  in  technical  work.  To  this  end  he  should 
have  practice  in  the  interpretation  of  blue  prints  in  the  shop  and 
in  outside  construction  work.  He  should  also  be  able  to  under- 
stand erecting  erecting-plans  for  machines  and  engines  and  for 
the  installation  of  heating  plants  and  power  equipment. 

10.  Practical  shop  work.     It  would  be  impossible  to  give  shop 
experience  in  very  many  of  the  different  lines  of  industry  carried 
on  in  Boston  and  vicinity.     It  will,  therefore,  be  necessary  to 
choose  a  few  lines  of  work  having  well  standardized  practice 
and  well  established  systems  of  organization,  which  at  the  same 
time  will  afford  the  best  opportunity  to  teach  the  pupil,  so  far 
as  the  limitations  of  the  school  will  permit,  the  way  in  which  mod- 
ern manufacturing  is  carried  on,  and  more  important  still  will  give 
an  experience  in  material  and  activities  common  to  all  pro- 
ductive industry. 


Appendix  B  79 

The  three  lines  which  best  meet  these  conditions  are  wood, 
metal,  and  the  electrical  industries  including  the  application  of 
power.  This  report  has,  therefore,  recommended  that  the  shop 
work  of  the  first  year  deal  with  carpentry,  the  second  with  pat- 
ternmaking,  the  third  with  machine  shop  practice.  The  second 
year's  service  is  given  to  the  applications  of  power  to  industry. 
The  fourth  year  is  reserved  for  elective  work  of  a  more  intensive 
character  in  some  one  of  the  above  mentioned  subjects.  The 
outline  for  shop  work  just  suggested  is  recommended  in  view  of 
the  present  conditions.  If  the  school  were  being  started  as  a  new 
venture  modifications  like  the  following  would  be  strongly  urged : 

(a)  Forging  is  only  a  small  phase  of  the  metal  working  busi- 
ness and  is  seldom  encountered  particularly  in  New  England  as 
a  separately  organized  industry.     Less  time  should  probably  be 
given  to  it  as  a  subordinate  and  more  or  less  incidental  part  of 
the  machine  shop  training.     The  time,  space,  and  money  thus 
gained  could  be  devoted  to  practical  instruction  in  foundry 
work.     It  is  fair  to  point  out  here  that  the  forging  now  given  in 
the  schools  is  unusually  well  taught.     The  equipment  is  in 
general  excellent.     These  facts,  together  with  the  large  expense 
of  making  pronounced  changes  in  this  department,   make  it 
advisable  to  recommend  the  continuance  of  this  course  with  a 
full  recognition  at  the  same  time  of  the  ultimate  need  of  reor- 
ganizing the  work  in  accordance  with  the  above  suggestions  as 
soon  as  the  resources  of  the  school  will  permit. 

(b)  Instruction  in  the  electrical  industries  including  power 
should  ultimately  not  be  given  merely  as  a  part  of  the  course 
in  science  which  seems  necessary  at  the  present  time,  but  should 
be  placed  as  far  as  possible  on  the  same  practical  basis  as  instruc- 
tion in  other  shop  work  and  be  given  an  equal  amount  of  time. 

Following  the  practice  of  the  High  School  of  Commerce,  pro- 
vision should  be  made  whereby  the  pupil  may  spend  his  summer 
vacations  at  some  line  of  work  in  productive  industry.  For  the 
satisfactory  performance  of  this  work  credit  should  be  given  by 
the  school. 

11.  English.  The  pupil  need  not  be  given  college  prepara- 
tory English  nor  should  he  be  trained  on  the  theory  that  he  is  to 
be  primarily  a  debater,  a  public  speaker,  or  a  professional  writer. 
He  should  study  English  from  two  points  of  view,  (1)  that  of 
appreciation,  (2)  that  of  use. 

The  English  of  appreciation  should  aim  to  develop  in  the 
pupil  a  love  of  good  reading.  The  instruction  should  take  the 


80        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

pupil  where  it  finds  him  and  endeavor  to  train  him  to  appre- 
ciate good  books  that  are  within  his  ability  to  understand.  It 
should  give  him  a  reading  habit  for  such  publications  as: 

Good  elementary  books  on  social  economic  and  industrial 
questions. 

Standard  magazines. 

Those  things  in  past  literature  which  appeal  to  him  as  an 
adolescent,  together  with  the  best  writings  of  our  own  day,  such 
as  the  following:  Poe's  Tales  and  Poems,  Kipling's  Tales  and 
Poems,  Stevenson's  Tales,  Franklin's  Autobiography,  Cooper's 
Mohicans,  Porter's  Captains  of  Industry,  Scott's  Quentin  Dur- 
ward,  Ivanhoe,  and  other  Border  Tales,  Kingsley's  Westward 
Ho,  Hyde's  Speaker,  Selections  from  Les  Miserables,  Dickens's 
Tales  of  Two  Cities,  Tennyson's  Idylls,  Wister's  U.  S.  Grant, 
Merchant  of  Venice,  Hawthorne's  House  of  the  Seven  Gables, 
stories  and  novels  of  an  historical  character,  biographies  of 
statesmen,  successful  generals,  captains  of  industry  and  busi- 
ness, and  other  men  of  affairs. 

The  English  for  use  should  prepare  the  pupil  to  employ  his 
mother  tongue  effectively  as  a  means  of  expression  both  as  a 
citizen  and  prospective  man  of  affairs  on  the  one  hand  and  as  a 
worker  and  prospective  executive  in  industry  on  the  other. 
Here  the  habit  and  power  of  clear,  concise,  and  forcible  oral 
and  written  presentation  of  thought  should  be  the  aim.  This 
requires  instruction  and  practice  in  how  to  collect,  organize,  and 
present  information  in  both  oral  and  written  form.  It  involves 
many  such  things  as  the  reading  and  study  of  business  and 
trade  journals,  trade  union  publications,  books  of  reference  of 
various  kinds,  the  collecting  and  use  of  first  hand  knowledge 
gained  by  personal  investigation  and  experience,  the  study 
of  the  best  examples  of  modern  day  speech  and  writing  as  il- 
lustrated by  such  publications  as  the  World's  Work,  the  Out- 
look, the  Literary  Digest,  the  Review  of  Reviews,  and  by  the 
public  addresses  and  popular  writings  of  President  Wilson,  of 
ex-President  Eliot  of  Harvard,  and  other  men  prominent  in 
public  life.  Carefully  prepared  class  talks  should  be  required 
from  the  pupils  and  class,  interclass,  and  inter-scholastic  debates 
as  well  as  writing  for  the  school  paper  should  be  encouraged. 
The  present  excellent  instruction  in  English  now  being  given  in 
the  school  should  be  extended  along  these  lines,  a  thing  readily 
accomplished  with  the  present  teaching  staff  when  the  school 
ceases  to  fit  for  college. 


Appendix  C  81 

Perhaps  more  important  still  is  the  need  of  business  English. 
Every  pupil  should  be  brought  into  contact  with  the  best  busi- 
ness English  as  used  by  business  men  in  magazines,  corres- 
pondence, and  talks  and  in  such  documents  as  the  United 
States  Consular  Reports.  He  should  have  abundant  practice  in 
the  repeated  writings  of  all  sorts  of  business  composition,  such 
as  letters,  specifications,  reports  on  special  subjects  in  indus- 
tries, reports  on  local  industries,  advertisements,  instruction 
sheets  and  notices,  contracts  and  agreements,  the  spelling  and 
use  of  technical  terms  employed  in  productive  industry,  cata- 
logues, remittances,  applications  for  positions,  market  reports, 
news  letters  to  trade  publications,  exposition  of  manufacturing 
processes,  and  circular  letters. 

Among  the  subjects  upon  which  written  papers  might  be 
required  from  time  to  time  are  such  as  the  following: 

Standard  methods  of  doing  certain  types  of  work. 

Construction  and  operation  of  machines. 

The  history  and  use  of  tools. 

Sources  and  uses  of  materials. 

Reports  on  shop  jobs  and  laboratory  experiments. 

The  layout  of  shop  work  organization. 

The  routing  of  jobs. 

Recent  improvements  in  machine  construction. 

"Shop  kinks." 

"Tricks  of  the  trade." 

Problems  of  the  engineer. 

Marketing  the  output  of  the  school. 

How  a  central  power  station  is  operated. 

Stock  systems. 

How  to  avoid  shop  accidents. 

Reviews  of  articles  in  industrial  publications. 

Papers  on  general  topics  of  interest. 


APPENDIX  C 

SUGGESTIONS  CONCERNING  METHODS  OF  INSTRUC- 
TION 

In  approaching  a  new  subject  for  the  first  time,  the  shop 
should  be  made  the  point  of  departure  wherever  possible.  How 
this  can  be  done  it  is  impossible  to  state  in  detail  within  the 


82       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

limits  of  this  report.  An  example  of  how  industrial  accidents 
as  a  topic  of  economics  might  be  studied,  for  instance,  will  il- 
lustrate the  method  which  in  general  should  be  used  in  the 
classroom.  In  taking  up  this  subject  for  the  first  time,  the 
teacher  of  economics  might  well  ask  the  shop  instructor  to  give 
a  lecture  on  some  of  the  causes  of  accidents  in  the  shop,  includ- 
ing instruction  as  to  the  danger  points  in  machines  and  how  to 
safeguard  against  them,  followed  by  some  consideration  of  the 
various  devices  for  this  purpose  now  on  the  market.  This 
should  be  followed  by  visitation  to  outside  plants  and  classroom 
study  covering  among  others,  such  topics  as  these: 

1.  Typical  accidents  occurring  in  industrial  plants. 

2.  State  factory  regulations  concerning  accidents. 

3.  Comparative  importance  of  this  subject  before  steam  and 
invention  brought  the  factory  system. 

4.  History  of  accidents  as  a  phase  of  industrial  life  during 
the  past  100  years,  beginning  with  the  fellow  servant  doctrine 
and  including  the  doctrines  of  assumed  risk,  employers'  liabil- 
ity, workingmen's  compensation,  and  old  age  pensions. 

Similarly,  the  classroom  instruction  in  practically  all  the 
subjects  in  the  course  of  study,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
certain  instruction  in  citizenship,  should,  wherever  possible, 
begin  with  the  activities  of  the  shops  and  lead  out  into  the  prac- 
tical affairs  of  industry  with  which  the  boy  on  leaving  the  school 
will  be  concerned.  This  requires  not  only  frequent  and  regular 
conference  between  shop  and  classroom  instructors,  but  it  also 
requires  classroom  teachers  who  have  had  some  contact  with 
industry. 


APPENDIX  D 

SUGGESTIONS  AS  TO  IMMEDIATE  CHANGES  IN  THE 
SCHOOL 

1.  Immediate  changes  in  the  course  of  study  as  already  sug- 
gested should  be  confined  to  the  first  year  class  and  should  be 
put  into  effect  before  the  first  of  September  of  the  current  year. 
Previous  to  that  time  a  committee  from  the  faculty  should 
carefully  study  the  problem  to  determine  what  changes  are 
possible  and  to  make  all  needed  preparation. 


Appendix  D  83 

As  a  part  of  such  preparation  the  guidance  committee  else- 
where recommended  in  this  report  should  be  organized  before 
the  close  of  the  present  school  year  to  aid  in  the  proper  selection 
of  pupils  to  be  admitted  in  September.  If  this  should  not 
prove  feasible  a  temporary  committee  should  be  appointed  from 
the  faculty  for  this  purpose. 

2.  Organization.  The  present  scheme  of  faculty  organiza- 
tion in  the  school  is  the  usual  departmental  organization  found 
in  most  high  schools,  there  being  one  head  teacher  for  each 
general  subject,  such  as  history,  English,  mathematics,  drawing, 
forging,  and  patternmaking,  who  is  in  a  way  responsible  for 
the  teaching  of  his  special  subject  in  all  the  years  of  the  course. 
Every  experience  goes  to  show  that  this  plan,  unless  accompanied 
by  other  and  special  groupings  of  teachers,  tends  to  emphasize 
and  isolate  each  special  subject  at  the  expense  of  other  subjects 
and  to  prevent  that  close  correlation  between  the  various  sub- 
jects of  the  course  which  is  necessary  to  effective  teaching  even 
in  the  ordinary  high  school. 

The  scheme  of  training  recommended  by  this  report  requires 
an  intimate  working  connection  between  the  shops  and  the 
instruction  of  the  classrooms  in  practically  every  subject.  It 
is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  school  develop  some  method  of 
administering  the  course  of  study  which  will  organize  the  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty  in  such  ways  as  to  make  each  subject  of  the 
largest  possible  advantage  in  the  teaching  of  every  other.  Just 
what  device  or  devices  will  be  most  effective  in  accomplishing 
this  only  the  experience  of  the  school  itself  can  answer. 

If  these  recommendations  are  to  be  carried  out  the  entering 
class  of  1914  must  be  smaller  than  heretofore.  Whatever  may  be 
the  actual  number  which  might  be  admitted,  the  total  of  the 
school,  particularly  of  the  class  of  1918,  should  not  be  per- 
mitted to  be  so  large  as  to  interfere  with  the  efficiency  of  the 
instruction. 

This  report  does  not  believe  that  even  with  the  alterations 
here  proposed  on  page  181  more  than  1,200  pupils  can  be  ac- 
commodated in  the  building  with  the  course  of  training  herein 
suggested.  This  probably  means  that  not  many  more  than 
400  pupils  should  be  admitted  as  freshmen  in  the  coming  Sep- 
tember. The  writer  desires  to  go  on  record  as  saying  that,  with 
the  present  floor  space  available  even  with  the  changes  herein 


84        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

proposed,  not  more  than  1000  pupils  should  be  accommodated 
in  the  school. 

Undoubtedly  better  results  would  be  gained  if  the  present 
average  enrollment  of  classes  be  reduced  from  thirty-four  to  a 
maximum  of  twenty-four.  This  may  mean  an  increase  in  the 
per  capita  cost  of  the  school  which  may  not  be  regarded  as 
advisable  at  the  present  time.  All  experience  would  show  that 
not  more  than  twenty  can  be  taught  to  the  best  advantage  by 
the  usual  instructor.  In  any  event  the  enrollment  of  any  given 
class,  beginning  with  the  class  of  1918,  should  not  under  any 
circumstances  be  greater  than  twenty-eight  and  the  school 
authorities  should  begin  at  oince  to  plan  for  a  pronounced  reduc- 
tion in  the  size  of  classes  to  follow. 

3.  Equipment.  No  attempt  will  be  made  in  this  report  to 
deal  with  the  changes  and  additions  in  equipment  or  alterations 
in  building  which  would  be  necessary  to  carry  out  the  work  of 
the  second,  third,  and  fourth  years,  as  herein  recommended.  It 
must,  of  course,  be  understood  that  even  the  suggestions  regard- 
ing the  changes  and  additions  to  be  made  before  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember, 1914,  are  not  offered  in  any  sense  as  absolute,  but  merely 
in  a  tentative  way  as  affording  a  feasible  working  plan. 

It  is  assumed  that  not  more  than  1200  pupils  will  be  accom- 
modated in  the  building.  This  probably  means  that,  taking 
into  consideration  those  returning  in  the  second,  third,  and 
fourth  years,  not  more  than  fifteen  sections  of  freshmen  will  be 
enrolled,  these  sections  to  contain  not  more  than  twenty-eight 
pupils  each.  On  the  basis  of  those  assumptions,  it  is  believed 
that  the  following  changes  in  the  building  and  equipment  are 
necessary  to  accommodate  the  class  of  1918  taking  the  new 
course  of  study  outlined  on  pages  30  to  32  in  this  report. 

1.  In  order  to  make  laboratories  for  elementary  science,  the 
large  rooms  (39-49-59)  on  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  floors 
should  be  employed. 

2.  Remove  some  of  the  lathes  from  the  turning  shops. 

3.  Remove  some  of  the  benches  from  the  wood-working  shops. 

4.  Remove  some  of  the  tables  from  the  drawing  rooms. 

5.  Distribute  some  of  these  lathes,  benches,  and  tables  among 
the  other  shops,  laboratories,  and  drawing  rooms. 

6.  Furnish  each  woodworking  shop  with  such  machines  and 
appliances  as:  two  or  three  drawing  tables  and  woodturning 
lathes,  a  circular  saw,  band  saw,  surface  planer,  and  joiner.     At 


Appendix  E  85 

least  one  of  the  rooms  should  be  provided  with  a  mortising 
machine,  straight  moulder,  boring  machine,  and  a  steam  box  for 
bending  wood. 

7.  Equip  each  elementary  science  laboratory  with  the  ap- 
paratus and  facilities  necessary  to  teach  simple  mechanics  and 
the  elementary  properties  of  materials.  There  should  be  also 
some  commercial  apparatus  illustrating  the  industrial  applica- 
tion of  the  principles  taught.  Each  laboratory  should  have 
several  long  tables,  containing  four  to  six  sinks  each.  The 
benches  from  the  woodworking  rooms  would  make  good 
individual  tables. 

4.  The  cost  of  changes  in  equipment. 

The  following  is  a  tentative  estimate  of  the  probable  cost  of 
the  changes  in  equipment  for  the  first  year's  work  recommended 
above. 

No  structural  changes. 

Plumbing  in  large  room  A,  to  be  used  as  machine  shop,  and  in 

39  and  40 $300.00 

72  Science  tables  at  $25 1,800.00 

2  Lecture  tables  at  $100 200.00 

12  Wood- working  machines  with  motors  at  an  average  of  $300.  3,600.00 

Apparatus  for  science  laboratories 1,500.00 

Labor  of  removing  amphitheatre  and  desks  from  A  39,  49,  and 

59 300  00 

Labor  of  installing  machines 200..00 

Shafting,  pulleys,  etc 200.00 


$8,100.00 
Allow  for  errors  in  above ...  1,900.00 


$10,000.00 


APPENDIX  E 


ANSWERS  OF  THE  HEADMASTER  TO  THE  QUESTION- 
AIRE  WITHIN  THE  STUDY* 

JULY  10,  1912. 


Kind  of  a  boy  with  which  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  deals? 
Since  September,  1907,  practically  all  boys  who  have  applied 
for  admission  to  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  have  been 

*  For  full  list  of  questions  submitted  In  this  study  to  the  headmaster  which  are 
answered  below,  see  Appendix  L. 


86       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

admitted.  From  1902  to  1907  inclusive,  a  considerable  num- 
ber were  refused  on  account  of  lack  of  accommodations,  but 
for  no  other  reason.)  In  September,  1908,  all  applicants  were 
received,  but  about  one-half  of  the  first  year  class  was  pro- 
vided for  in  the  Rice  School  when  it  was  transferred  to  the 
new  building.  (Applicants  were  received  on  the  basis  of  general 
record  for  scholarship  (not  conduct)  in  the  grammar  school), 
but  consideration  was  given  in  special  cases  to  the  mark  for 
sloyd  and  arithmetic  on  the  ground  that  boys  notably  weak  in 
these  subjects  were  less  likely  to  succeed  in  the  Mechanic  Arts 
High  School  even  if  their  general  record  was  good,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  boys  exceptionally  strong  in  these  subjects  were 
likely  to  profit  by  the  work  of  the  school  although  weak  in 
English,  geography,  or  history. 

After  full  discussion,  the  Committee  on  Manual  Training  of 
the  School  Board,  unanimously  decided  that  a  selection  on  the 
basis  of  merit,  as  determined  by  the  grammar  school  record, 
was  the  only  defensible  plan.  At  that  time  the  pressure  for 
admission  was  very  strong  and  parents  were  naturally  ready  to 
criticise  harshly  any  action  of  officials  that  could  be  attributed 
to  personal  bias  or  favoritism.  It  was  recognized  that  the 
grammar  school  record  was  an  imperfect  test  of  fitness,  but  it 
was  believed  to  be  the  best  then  available.  As  the  decision 
touching  from  three  to  six  hundred  boys  had  to  be  made  in  a 
single  day,  it  was  obviously  impossible  to  obtain  and  consider 
adequately  the  data  suggested  by  3  f,  1,  2,  3,  4,  or  to  conduct 
interviews  with  parents.  Moreover,  the  decision  of  any  person, 
or  persons,  however  wise  and  conscientious,  based  upon  such 
data  would  have  been  sharply  challenged  in  many  cases. 
Equally  open  to  attack  would  have  been  a  selection  by  lot,  for 
the  parents  of  boys  who  had  made  good  records  in  the  grammar 
school  believed  that  their  sons  had  established  a  right  to  attend 
the  school  of  their  choice. 

I  have  not  recognized  in  my  boys  the  characteristic  differ- 
ences between  concrete  and  practical  on  the  one  hand  and 
abstract  and  bookish  on  the  other,  implied  by  many  of  your 
questions.  Every  large  group  of  applicants  for  admission  to 
the  Boston  high  schools  contains  a  very  small  number  who 
clearly  belong  to  one  or  the  other  of  these  classes,  but  the  great 
mass  of  boys  who  do  tolerably  well  any  form  of  shop  work  that 


Appendix  E  87 

requires  a  fair  measure  of  concentrated  attention,  foresight, 
judgment,  and  perseverance  do  equally  well  the  usual  academic 
subjects.  The  exceptionally  capable  boys  excel  to  about  the 
same  degree  in  both  the  academic  and  mechanic  department, 
and  the  very  weak  boys  are  equally  unsuccessful  in  all  branches. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  there  is  a  larger  percentage  of  the 
concrete  variety  among  graduates  of  the  grammar  schools  who 
do  not  seek  the  high  schools.  I  have  no  reason  to  think  that 
there  is  a  marked  difference  in  type  between  the  boys  who  enter 
the  English  High  School  and  those  who  come  to  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School,  except  that  the  latter  have  some  taste  for 
mechanical  training  or  a  conviction  that  such  training  will  lead 
to  agreeable  and  profitable  employment.  The  boys  who  enter 
the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  doubtless  incline  somewhat  to 
the  concrete  variety.  This  is  natural  and  desirable.  It  is 
probable  also  that  a  smaller  percentage  of  boys  deemed  excep- 
tionally capable  in  the  elementary  school  and  a  larger  percentage 
of  weak  boys  come  to  this  school. 

The  boy  best  adapted  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology  has  been  rather  more  likely  to  go 
to  other  schools,  particularly  the  English  High,  than  to  the 
Mechanic  Arts  High  School.  Many  boys  of  moderate  ability 
have  been  sent  to  this  school  by  parents  who  hoped  that  they 
would  develop  capacity  and  ambition  for  the  training  of  a  higher 
technical  school.  The  combined  activities  of  the  classrooms, 
shops,  and  drawing  rooms  have  stimulated  them  to  greater 
exertion  than  they  had  been  accustomed  to  make  in  the  ele- 
mentary school  and  the  good  teaching  has  enabled  them  to  pass 
the  examinations. 

A.  (A  large  percentage  of  the  boys  who  have  entered  this  school 
have  come  with  the  intention  of  ultimately  pursuing  an  engineer- 
ing career.  In  many  cases  their  notion  of  engineering  has  been 
vague,  but  as  clear  as  the  notions  of  boys  of  thirteen  or  fourteen 
are  likely  to  be  touching  their  careers.)  Many  of  the  parents 
of  these  boys  have  been  prepared  to  make  heroic  sacrifices  to 
give  them  higher  technical  training  if  they  showed  that  they 
were  likely  to  profit  by  it.  Even  if  these  boys  have  failed  to 
enter  upon  or  complete  the  course  in  a  technical  college  they 
have  been  vastly  more  satisfactorily  trained  in  the  direction  of 


88        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

their  native  aptitudes  than  they  would  have  been  in  the  English 
High  School  or  in  one  of  the  district  high  schools.  Their  suc- 
cess, or  failure,  in  a  technical  college  has  depended  far  more 
upon  their  native  ability  and  ambition  than  upon  their  prelim- 
inary training,  due  to  the  need  of  earning  money  in  time  that 
should  have  been  devoted  to  study.  The  fact  that  a  consider- 
able number  of  the  very  best  men  that  have  been  graduated 
from  the  Institute  of  Technology  and  the  Lawrence  Scientific 
School  in  the  last  fifteen  years  have  been  prepared  in  the  Me- 
chanic Arts  High  School  is  strong  evidence  that  the  training 
which  it  gives  is  a  satisfactory  foundation  for  college  work. 

(I  believe  that  one  of  the  functions  of  the  school  should  be 
to  prepare  boys  for  technical  colleges.  It  was  organized  in  1892 
as  a  high  school.  A  fundamental  principle  of  that  organization 
was  that  it  should  be  properly  articulated  with  the  schools 
below  and  above  it.  Movement  from  it  to  higher  institutions 
of  the  same  general  type  has  always  been  recognized  as  fitting 
and  logical.)  This  practice  has  had  the  approval  of  the  sub- 
committee in  charge  of  it,  of  all  the  supervisors  or  assistant 
superintendents  assigned  to  it,  and  of  each  of  the  three  superin- 
tendents who  have  held  office  since  1895.  (That  an  intelligent 
community  desires  the  continuance  of  this  policy  is  conclusively 
shown  by  the  record  of  enrollment.  The  rapid  reduction  in 
applications  for  admission  and  in  the  percentage  of  persistence 
in  the  various  classes  since  1909  has  been  very  largely  due  to 
the  announcement  by  the  School  Committee  of  an  intention  to 
make  a  radical  change  in  the  course  of  study.)  Other  causes, 
e.  g.,  the  change  in  the  course  in  the  elementary  schools,  the 
development  of  the  High  School  of  Commerce,  and  the  organ- 
ization of  business  courses  in  the  general  high  schools,  may  have 
had  some  effect,  but  these  causes  would  at  most  have  merely 
checked  the  rapidity  of  the  growth  of  the  school.  They  would 
not  have  caused  the  alarming  reduction  in  numbers  shown  by 
the  statistics  which  I  have  submitted  to  you. 

(If  there  are  defects  of  organization  or  administration,  they 
should  be  remedied  without  radical  changes  calculated  to  dis- 
turb the  public  mind  and  give  the  impression  that  the  school 
has  not  accomplished  its  purpose.  The  records  show  clearly 
that  it  has  done  successfully  the  work  for  which  it  was  organ- 
ized. If  new  aims  are  desirable,  in  view  of  changed  economic, 


Appendix  E  89 

industrial,  or  social  conditions,  a  course  adapted  to  meet  those 
ends  should  be  developed  in  harmonious  relationship  with  exist- 
ing work.)  If  it  proves  to  meet  the  public  needs,  it  will  gradually 
replace  the  old  without  injury  to  the  reputation  of  the  school  or 
injustice  to  teachers  who  have  a  right  to  expect  that  the  faithful 
discharge  of  the  duties  which  they  were  expected  to  perform 
when  they  were  appointed  would  lead  to  continuous  employ- 
ment under  reasonably  favorable  conditions.  Unless  the  causes 
that  have  been  operating  to  make  the  school  unpopular  since 
1909  can  be  removed,  it  will  be  necessary  to  dismiss  many 
teachers  in  the  near  future.  The  announcement  that  the  path 
of  opportunity  to  higher  education  has  been  closed,  in  a  school 
that  has  offered  that  opportunity  for  many  years,  tends  strongly 
to  give  the  public  the  impression  that  the  school  has  been  put 
on  a  lower  plane.  Many  parents  have  called  at  my  office  to 
withdraw  their  sons  reluctantly  on  account  of  the  proposed 
change,  but  no  patron  of  the  school  has  ever  expressed  approval 
of  it. 

For  some  time  the  classes  have  been  steadily  growing  weaker 
in  aptitude  for  mechanical  work,  and  this  reduction  in  native 
mechanical  capacity  has  been  particularly  noticeable  for  the 
last  two  years.  If  the  school  is  to  turn  out  men  fitted  for  re- 
sponsible positions  in  the  industries  on  the  business  or  directive 
side,  its  intake  must  not  be  confined  to  inferior  boys. 

13.  If  the  changes  proposed  were  made  the  reduction  of  the 
entering  class  at  the  outset  would  be  about  50  per  cent. 

14.  The  typical  boy  wants  a  general  education  somewhat 
more  practical  than  that  given  in  the  regular  high  schools  in- 
cluding considerable  shop  work  and  drawing. 

15.  I  have  little  evidence: 

(a)  That  there  would  be  such  a  field  immediately. 

(b)  That  the  attendance  would  justify  the  existence  of  the 
school. 

(c)  That  it  would  attract  a  different  class  of  pupils. 

16.  I  would  favor  a  part-time  or  co-operative  scheme  if  ade- 
quate funds  were  available,  the  demand  became  evident,  and 
time  could  be  found  for  it  when  the  plant  was  not  fully  employed 
with  its  regular  work. 

17.  No  effort  has  been  made  in  this  direction. 

18.  Without  a  much  more  careful  investigation  than  I  have 
neeb  able  to  make  I  cannot  express  an  opinion  touching  the 


90        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

part-time  scheme  most  likely  to  be  successful.  Opening  the 
shops  in  the  summer  and  on  Saturday  appears  to  be  most  feasible. 
Valuable  industrial  instruction  that  does  not  require  the  use  of 
the  shop  seems  to  be  possible. 

19.  Mainly  lack  of  funds  and  limitation  of  accommodation. 

20.  I  believe  that  it  is  well  worth  while  to  do  much  more  in 
this  general  direction.     It  is  impossible  to  forecast  the  extent  to 
which  it  will  be  successful. 

20.  I  believe  that  it  is  well  worth  while  to  do  much  more  in 
this  general  direction.  It  is  impossible  to  forecast  the  extent  to 
which  it  will  be  successful. 

II 

VOCATIONAL  DIRECTION  AND  PLACEMENT* 

1-3  inc.  The  curriculum  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
includes  many  of  the  branches  usually  found  in  high  schools, 
and  they  are  taught  in  much  the  same  way  except  that  decidedly 
more  emphasis  is  given  to  industrial  history  and  to  the  practical 
applications  of  science  and  mathematics.  The  subjects  peculiar 
to  it  are  taught  so  as  to  give  substantial  knowledge  of  the  ele- 
mentary facts  and  applications  of  the  fundamental  mechanic  arts. 
This  curriculum  has  proved  singularly  attractive  and  inspiring 
to  many  boys,  and  has  given  very  valuable  general  culture  of  a 
type  distinctly  different  from  that  which  results  from  the  stand- 
ard high  school  training.  To  the  extent  indicated  in  the  fore- 
going it  is  a  general  high  school. 

It  tends  strongly,  however,  to  arouse  interest  in  occupations 
in  which  the  special  training  of  the  mechanical  departments  can 
be  utilized.  It  furnishes  a  good  preparation  for  a  large  variety 
of  occupations  related  to  the  industries  in  which  knowledge  of 
drawing  and  mechanical  processes  is  an  important  element  of 
success.  To  that  extent  it  is  vocational.  It  shortens  the  period 
of  apprenticeship  for  those  who  decide  to  become  mechanics, 
but  it  does  not  produce  journeymen. 

4.  The  best  information  that  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  tends 
to  show  that  a  large  percentage  of  the  graduates  have  found 
employment  appropriately  related  to  the  special  training  which 
they  received.  The  number  who  remain  in  the  industries  as 


•For  list  of  questions  answered  below  see  Section  B  of  Appendix  L. 


Appendix  E  91 

journeymen  is  small,  probably  not  more  than  five  to  eight  per 
cent.  Many  begin  as  apprentices,  but  soon  rise  to  positions  of 
some  responsibility.  Not  far  from  65  per  cent  become  draftsmen, 
electricians,  foremen,  superintendents,  and  salesmen  of  me- 
chanical products,  or  engage  in  some  other  occupation,  more  or 
less  connected  with  the  industries,  for  which  their  special  train- 
ing has  given  them  a  manifestly  better  preparation  than  the 
courses  in  other  high  schools.  From  ten  to  fifteen  per  cent  fol- 
low the  usual  careers  of  high  school  pupils.  Most  of  the  others 
practice  some  form  of  engineering  after  completing  the  whole  or 
a  part  of  a  course  in  a  higher  technical  school. 

Those  who  drop  out  generally  accept  whatever  employment 
they  can  secure  without  much  regard  to  their  native  aptitudes 
or  training. 

It  is  likely  that  nearly  all  of  the  boys  who  come  to  this  school 
want  the  kind  of  education  that  it  is  adapted  to  give.  My 
answers  to  your  various  questions  indicate  what  that  type  is. 
Roughly,  about  five  per  cent  are  misfits. 

For  a  series  of  years  a  little  less  than  half  of  the  members  of 
the  first  year  class  have  declared  their  intention  of  going  to  a 
technical  college.  Probably  about  half  of  that  number  have  at 
the  outset  a  fairly  fixed  intention  of  taking  a  higher  course. 
Many  desire  training  which  leads  to  a  technical  college  course 
on  account  of  financial  limitations. 

None  take  the  entrance  board's  examinations. 

The  percentage  of  boys  who  enter  with  a  definite  idea  of  the 
calling  which  they  will  follow  is  probably  not  large.  I  have  no 
better  basis  for  an  opinion  than  the  statistics  recently  obtained 
for  you. 

5.  The  choice  of  a  high  school  is  usually  made  in  the  light 
of  such  information  as  boys  and  their  parents  get  from  other 
boys  who  have  attended  high  schools,  or  their  parents,  supple- 
mented by  the  statements  of  the  principals  of  the  grammar 
schools.  The  percentage  of  parents  who  consult  the  principals 
is  probably  not  very  large  and  varies  considerably  in  the  differ- 
ent districts. 

The  course  of  study  and  the  reports  of  the  Committee  on 
Manual  Training,  which  I  gave  you,  have  been  sent  to  the  prin- 
cipals of  the  grammar  schools.  Since  September,  1909,  it  has 
been  impracticable  for  me  to  make  any  authoritative  state- 
ment. 


92        A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

6-12  inc.  Mr.  Frederick  W.  Turner  has  been  designated  as 
vocational  counselor  for  the  school.  He  took  the  course  in 
vocational  guidance  given  in  the  Harvard  Summer  School  last 
year  and  has  attended  the  meetings  of  the  vocational  councils 
in  Boston.  He  has  read  much  upon  the  subject  and  gathered 
considerable  valuable  data.  He  is  not  relieved  from  regular 
duty  on  account  of  vocational  work  and  can  give  little  time  to 
it.  All  of  the  teachers  advise  the  boys  more  or  less  touching 
their  future  work.  A  few  parents  consult  the  headmaster 
concerning  the  admission  of  their  sons,  but  neither  he  nor  his 
teachers  have  an  opportunity  to  influence  much  the  choice  of 
the  great  majority.  Usually,  the  first  notice  received  by  teach- 
ers that  a  boy  is  about  to  withdraw  from  school  is  given  when 
he  returns  his  books.  Many  drop  out  without  any  notice  and 
it  is  necessary  to  send  for  their  text-books.  If  a  conference 
with  a  boy  who  has  announced  his  intention  of  leaving  makes 
it  seem  likely  that  a  letter  will  be  of  service,  the  headmaster 
writes  to  parents  for  an  interview.  About  half  of  these  inter- 
views result  in  keeping  the  boy  in  school.  In  general,  however, 
the  decision  to  leave  is  made  at  home,  and  the  school  cannot 
change  it.  Many  withdrawals  are  made  on  account  of  eco- 
nomic necessity.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  under  favorable 
conditions  the  school  might  be  of  real  service  in  many  more 
cases. 

I  invite  all  members  of  each  graduating  class  to  write  to  me 
if  they  desire  my  aid  in  securing  employment.  Those  letters 
are  kept  on  file  and  assistance  is  given  in  many  cases.  Boys 
are  occasionally  placed  for  work  during  the  summer. 

I  favor  a  systematic  effort  to  deal  effectively  with  the  problem 
of  vocational  guidance.  It  is  clearly  desirable  to  discover  as 
early  as  possible  the  native  tendencies  of  boys,  point  out  the 
advantages  and  disadvantages  of  occupations  that  seem  at- 
tractive to  them,  and  indicate  the  training  which  will  help  them 
most  in  the  work  they  are  inclined  to  follow.  Efforts  may  well 
be  made  to  place  them  in  desirable  positions,  but  this  is  less 
important  than  giving  them  clear  notions  about  various  occupa- 
tions. 

The  work  involves: 

1.  A  study  of  the  school  records. 

2.  The  preparation  and  distribution  of  information  touching 
the  school  useful  to  graduates  of  grammar  schools. 


Appendix  E  93 

3.  Conferences  with  many  boys  and  their  parents. 

4.  Visits  to  many  homes. 

5.  Study  of  home  economic  conditions. 

6.  Conferences  with  employers  both  before  and  after  boys 
are  placed  with  them. 

7.  Efforts  to  discover  causes  of  failure  both  in  and  out  of 
school. 

8.  Efforts  to  guard  against  harmful  amusements  and  unwise 
use  of  time  out  of  school. 

9.  Ways  of  keeping  in  school  boys  who  are  inclined  to  leave 
without  good  reason. 

10.  Systematic   records  of  information  gained  and  work  ac- 
complished. 

The  above  is,  of  course,  only  an  imperfect  outline.  The  work 
demands  the  entire  time  of  a  good  man  and  a  reasonable  appro- 
priation for  expenses.  I  believe  that  adequate  provision  for  this 
service  is  justifiable. 

Ill 

STUDY  AND  PROMOTION* 

1  and  2.  Each  teacher  obtains  his  bi-monthly  mark  by  com- 
bining the  marks  for  daily  recitations  with  those  for  numerous 
short  tests;  uniform  tests  for  all  divisions  of  the  same  grade  are 
often  prepared  by  the  head  of  the  department  or  by  a  teacher 
in  conference  with  him.  There  is  no  fixed  rule  touching  the 
relative  weight  to  be  given  to  tests  and  recitations,  but  the  final 
mark  is  determined  largely  by  the  tests.  Practice  varies  in 
different  subjects.  In  the  mathematical  subjects  the  marks  are 
based  almost  wholly  upon  tests.  Equal  weight  is  given  to  labor- 
atory, shop,  and  academic  subjects. 

3.  All  of  the  work  of  the  shop  and  much  of  the  work  in  the 
laboratories  is  a  test  of  manipulative  or  concrete  ability.    No 
set  examinations  are  given  to  test  such  ability. 

4.  Roughly,  about  25  per  cent   of   those  who  leave  do  so 
because  likely  to  fail.     It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  a  boy  leaves 
to  go  to  work  because  he  is  likely  to  fail  or  neglects  his  work 
and  fails  because  he  has  decided  to  go  to  work. 

5.  The  number  of  failures  in  1911-12  were  nearly  in  the  ratio 
of  the  figures  given  below: 


*  For  list  of  questions  answered  below  see  Section  C  of  Appendix  L. 


94       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

First  Year 

Algebra,  5;  English,  9;  Science,  12;  History,  5;  Shop,  7; 
Drawing,  3. 

Second  Year 

Algebra,  2;  Geometry,  3;  English,  4;  French,  4;  History,  2; 
Shop,  6;  Drawing,  1. 

Third  Year 

Geometry,  2;  English,  3;  French,  3;  Physics,  3;  Shop,  2; 
Drawing,  1. 

6.  Failures  are  mainly  due  to  lack  of  ability,  industry,  and 
application.  A  few  bright  boys  fail  because  they  waste  time 
with  thoughtless  or  bad  companions  and  neglect  their  home 
lessons.  Probably  some  faithful  plodders  of  fair  ability  fail 
because  the  pace  is  too  rapid,  but  the  number  of  such  cases  is 
very  small. 

7  and  8.  There  is  much  complaint  about  unsatisfactory  home 
study.  It  is  somewhat  more  marked  in  the  first  and  second  than 
in  the  third  and  fourth  years. 

9.  Somewhat  better  results  are  obtained  from  the  college 
group,  but  many  boys  in  the  non-college  group  do  very  good 
work. 

10.  The  standards  are  higher  for  the  college  group. 

11  and  12.  Pupils  who  fail  in  two  or  more  subjects  are  gen- 
erally required  to  repeat  the  year's  work.  In  doubtful  cases 
pupils  are  promoted  provisionally  and  given  an  opportunity  to 
redeem  themselves  if  possible.  Those  not  promoted  are  not  re- 
quired to  repeat  shop  work  that  has  been  done  successfully,  but 
more  advanced  work  in  the  same  or  another  shop  is  given. 

13.  Deficiencies  are  generally  removed  by  passing  examina- 
tions.    Preparation  for  the  examinations  is  made  in  the  Summer 
High  School,  by  study  with  private  tutors,  or  by  reviews  without 
instruction.     In  some  cases  pupils  are  permitted  to  advance  in 
most  subjects  and  repeat  those  in  which  they  are  deficient. 
Each  case  is  considered  sympathetically  and  every  boy  is  placed 
where  it  is  believed  that  he  will  work  to  the  best  advantage. 

14.  Parents  are  notified  of  failures,  conferences  are  held  with 
them  and  with  the  boys,  pressure  of  many  kinds  is  brought  to 
bear,  and  the  boys  are  finally  asked  to  withdraw  when  it  is  clear 
that  the  school  can  be  of  no  further  service  to  them  without 
unreasonable  demands  upon  the  time  of  teachers. 


Appendix  E  95 

IV 

CHARACTER  OF  TRAINING* 

1.  In  comparison  with  the  regular  high  school  the  time  given  to 
academic  subjects  in  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  is  about  as 
follows:  first  year,  two-thirds;  second  year,  five-sixths;  third  year, 
a  little  more  than  two-thirds;  fourth  year,  (1)  shop  group,  a  little 
less  than  two-thirds,  (2)  non-shop  group,  abou  20  per  cent  more. 

2  and  3.  French  is  required  in  the  second  and  third  years. 

4  and  5.  Three  years  of  both  shop  work  and  drawing  must  be 
carried  successfully. 

6-11  inc.  There  is  only  one  course,  but  while  the  subjects  of 
study  are  the  same,  the  work  of  the  stronger  division  is  distinc- 
tively more  difficult  than  that  of  the  weaker  divisions.  In 
general,  the  work  of  the  stronger  division  is  more  abstract,  that 
of  the  weaker  divisions  more  concrete.  There  is,  therefore, 
throughout  the  first  three  years  a  rough  approximation  to  two 
different  courses,  and  in  the  fourth  year  the  shop  and  non-shop 
divisions  have  distinctly  different  work.  Frequent  readjust- 
ments of  divisions  are  made  on  the  basis  of  ability  and  success 
as  shown  by  the  marks.  The  data  are  gathered  and  tabulated 
by  heads  of  departments  and  the  final  decisions  are  made  by 
them  in  conference  with  the  headmaster.  The  aim  is  to  place 
every  boy  where  he  will  work  to  the  best  advantage.  Frequent 
conferences  with  parents  and  pupils  are  held.  Abundant  warn- 
ing is  given  to  pupils  liable  to  be  transferred  to  weaker  divisions. 
They  are  kept  in  the  stronger  divisions  until  it  is  clear  that 
different  work  will  be  more  profitable  for  them. 

12.  There  are  no  formal  conferences  of  all  headmasters  touch- 
ing the  placing  and  transfer  of  pupils,  but  one  headmaster  oc- 
casionally confers  with  another  about  an  individual  pupil.     Trans- 
fers are  seldom  sought  by  pupils  who  have  not  made  a  poor  record 
in  the  school  that  they  have  attended.     I  have  sometimes  ad- 
vised the  transfer  of  boys  exceptionally  strong  in  academic  sub- 
jects and  very  weak  in  shop  work  and  drawing,  but  have  gen- 
erally been  urged  by  parents  to  permit  the  boy  to  remain,  on 
the  ground  that  he  needed  the  training  of  the  shop  to  make  him 
less  one-sided. 

13.  Roughly,  about  ten  per  cent  of    those  who   enter  each 
class  complete  the  non-shop  course  of  the  fourth  year  with  a  record. 

*  For  list  of  questions  answered  below  see  Section  D  of  Appendix  L. 


96       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

which  makes  it  likely  that  they  can  pass  the  examinations  for 
admission  to  a  technical  college  or  entitles  them  to  certificates 
for  such  colleges.  Many  equally  able  boys  chose  the  shop  course. 
14.  The  school  year  1911-12  was  the  first  since  1900-01  when 
adequate  shop  accommodations  were  available  for  fourth  year 
boys.  For  many  years,  shop  work  could  be  taken  by  fourth 
year  boys  only  under  very  favorable  conditions.  A  large  num- 
ber chose  shop  work  in  1910-11,  but  they  were  employed  much 
of  the  time  upon  the  installation  of  equipment.  The  fourth 
year  class  of  1911-12  was  divided  as  follows: 

Number  taking  shop  work  and  drawing 139 

Number  not  taking  shop  work  and  drawing. . .     85 

This  division  is  what  may  fairly  be  expected  with  free  choice 
under  existing  conditions.  It  is  the  theory  of  the  school  that 
along  with  shop  work  and  drawing  a  course  is  given  that  will 
enable  a  large  majority  of  the  pupils  to  start  in  life  advanta- 
geously, particularly  on  the  business  and  directive  side  of  in- 
dustry, while  giving  to  others,  especially  in  the  fourth  year, 
more  intensive  academic  work  adapted  to  prepare  them  to  pass 
the  examinations  for  admission  to  technical  colleges.  A  con- 
siderable number  prefer  to  emphasize  academic  work  in  the  last 
year  although  they  do  not  expect  to  go  to  college. 

17.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year,  but  not  later,  transfers  from 
the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  to  other  Boston  high  schools, 
or  vice  versa,  may  be  made  by  those  who  have  done  good  work. 
It  very  seldom  happens  that  such  boys  desire  to  be  transferred. 
Adjustments  to  the  conditions  and  methods  of  a  new  school  can 
never  be  made  without  some  loss. 

18.  Answered  under  13. 

19.  After  discussion  extending  over  six  years,  the  question  of 
the  desirability  and  expediency  of  enlarging  the  Mechanic  Arts 
High  School,  at  a  cost  of  $500,000,  was  referred  to  a  committee 
consisting  of  Charles  W.  Eliot,  president  of  Harvard  University, 
Thomas  I.   Casson,   S.   J.,   president  of    Boston  College,   and 
Henry  S.  Pritchett,  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology.     On  November  7,    1907,   that   committee  unani- 
mously recommended  the  erection  of  the  large  extension,  the 
plans  of  which  had  been  developed  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  course 
of  study  substantially  like  that  now  in  use. 


Appendix  E  97 

When  the  school  contains  the  largest  number  of  pupils  that 
can  be  provided  for  in  the  mechanical  department,  there  will 
still  be  a  sufficient  number  of  classrooms  for  all  the  academic 
work  unless  the  relative  amount  of  that  work  is  considerably 
increased.  There  is  not  now,  and  there  is  not  likely  to  be  in  the 
future,  any  crowding  of  the  school  on  account  of  academic  work. 
It  would  be  indefensible  to  transfer  pupils  doing  purely  academic 
work  from  this  school,  where  there  are  adequate  classrooms,  to 
the  English  High  School  for  which  it  is  now  necessary  to  hire 
accommodations.  Moreover,  pupils  generally  become  attached 
to  the  school  of  their  choice  and  loyal  to  it.  Neither  they  nor 
their  parents  will  consent  without  earnest  protest  to  transfers 
that  are  not  obviously  necessary.  After  pupils  have  become 
acquainted  with  the  teachers  and  methods  of  a  high  school, 
they  cannot  change  to  another  without  considerable  loss  in  ad- 
justing themselves  to  the  new  condition.  There  is  no  reason 
why  all  of  the  academic  work  now  undertaken,  or  likely  to  prove 
desirable  for  those  who  wish  to  emphasize  academic  subjects, 
cannot  be  carried  on  in  the  best  way  without  interfering  in  the 
slightest  degree  with  the  most  satisfactory  training  of  the  more 
concrete  boys  who  desire  to  emphasize  shop  work  and  the  prac- 
tical applications  of  their  academic  study.  Every  individual 
case  will  be  studied  more  sympathetically  and  dealt  with  more 
wisely  if  it  is  only  necessary  to  shift  a  boy  from  one  department 
of  this  school  to  another  than  if  he  must  be  transferred  to  another 
school  to  give  him  the  opportunities  which  he  appears  to  need. 

It  may  be  that  the  functions  of  the  school  would  be  more 
clearly  defined  in  the  public  mind  and  some  advantages  of  ad- 
ministration secured  by  laying  out  the  work  in  two  distinct 
courses.  These  courses  should  be  nearly  parallel  for  two  years, 
but  would  separate  quite  widely  in  the  third  and  fourth  years. 

I  prefer  not  to  give  more  definite  answers  to  the  other  ques- 
tions until  I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  discuss  the  whole 
problem  with  you. 

V 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  SHOP  WORK* 
1.  Time. 

First  year,  wood-work  with  hand  tools,  2  periods  daily. 
Second  year,  pattern-making,  2  periods  daily,  half  year. 


*  For  list  of  questions  answered  below  see  Section  E  of  Appendix  L. 


98       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

Second  year,  forging,  2  periods  daily,  half  year. 

Third  year,  machine  shop  work,  2  periods  alternate  days. 

Fourth  year,  machine  shop  work,  2  periods  daily. 

2.  Qualifications  of  instructors. 

See  Circular  of  Information  No.  48,  1911,  p.  8,  V. 

A  special  assistant  is  employed  in  each  shop  or  drawing  room. 
These  assistants  are  recent  graduates  of  the  school,  chosen  on 
the  ground  of  their  general  fitness  for  the  special  work  assigned 
to  them.  They  serve  on  a  temporary  basis  usually  for  not  more 
than  two  years. 

3.  Covered  in  two. 

4  and  5.  The  heads  of  departments  are  all  men  who  have  had 
prolonged  trade  experience  before  taking  up  school  work  and 
their  scholarly  instinct  and  ambition  have  combined  to  keep 
them  well  informed.  Their  numerous  visits  to  factories  and 
conferences  with  manufacturers  touching  machinery  and  equip- 
ment have  given  them  definite  information  touching  the  progress 
of  shop  methods.  Not  only  the  heads  of  departments,  but  all 
other  instructors  are  constant  readers  of  trade  journals  and 
books  relating  to  the  various  industries.  Several  of  the  younger 
instructors  have  taken  courses  in  the  Harvard  Summer  School. 
One  of  them  spent  a  summer  with  Buff  and  Buff  Manufacturing 
Co.,  makers  of  high  grade  surveying  instruments.  He  spent 
another  summer,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Turner,  head  of 
the  department  of  pattern-making,  securing  information  from 
various  manufacturers  for  the  Massachusetts  Industrial  Com- 
mission. Another  instructor  is  spending  the  present  summer 
working  in  the  shops  of  the  Blanchard  Machine  Co.  Another 
is  in  an  automobile  shop  in  Beverly.  Another  spent  a  summer 
a  year  or  two  ago  in  a  planing  mill  in  Roxbury.  Several  of  them 
have  taken  courses  in  the  Lowell  Institute  School  for  Industrial 
Foremen.  All  of  them  have  made  themselves  reasonably  famil- 
iar with  the  industries  of  Boston  and  vicinity  by  frequent  visits 
to  factories. 

With  the  exception  of  the  instructors  in  wood-working,  the 
younger  instructors  in  shop  work  are  associated  as  teachers  of 
evening  classes  with  other  teachers  who  hold  responsible  posi- 
tions in  commercial  shops. 

6.  Largest  number  of  pupils  in  a  shop  class: 

First  year,  40;  second  year,  36;  third  year,  32;  fourth  year, 
39. 


Appendix  E  99 

7.  Smallest  number  of  a  shop  class: 

First  year,  18;  second  year,  22;  third  year,  26;  fourth  year,  31. 

These  small  numbers  apply  to  only  a  few  divisions  near  the 
end  of  the  school  year. 

8.  The  number  of  pupils  per  shop  instructor  depends  upon  so 
many  conditions  that  I  can  make  no  general  statement. 

9-13  inc.  In  all  subjects  during  the  elementary  stages  the 
teaching  is  by  lectures  and  demonstrations  to  group,  but  it  is 
always  supplemented  by  individual  instruction.  After  a  demon- 
stration all  pupils  proceed  upon  the  same  work  except  those 
who  are  not  prepared  to  go  on  with  their  classmates  because  of 
absences  from  previous  lessons.  Much  individual  work  is  done 
by  rapid  workers  who  complete  regular  jobs  in  advance  of  their 
classmates.  They  work  either  alone  or  in  groups.  At  the  out- 
set, in  any  shop,  special  class  work  is  advisable  both  on  account 
of  economy  and  efficiency  in  teaching.  The  demonstration  to 
groups  stimulates  the  teacher  to  do  his  best  and  relieves  him 
from  the  constant  repetition  which  exhausts  both  his  strength 
and  his  interest  in  the  subjects.  A  well  conducted  class  exercise 
provides  for  discussion  and  questioning  which  react  favorably 
upon  both  teacher  and  pupil.  Emulation  and  initiative  are 
important  incentives  especially  with  the  younger  boys.  In  the 
earlier  stages  in  which  class  work  can  be  carried  on  effectively 
the  objection  to  the  individual  method  is  that  it  makes  unneces- 
sary demands  upon  the  time  and  energy  of  teachers,  but  when 
boys  are  engaged  upon  fairly  difficult  projects,  individual  in- 
struction is  indispensable.  The  group  method  is  preferred  for 
all  of  the  reasons  stated  in  Question  11.  In  the  later  stages  of 
the  work  in  each  department  groups  are  selected  for  special  work 
with  the  end  in  view  of  securing  the  advantages  of  co-operation 
and  direction — one  student  acting  as  the  leader  or  boss. 

The  cost  of  material  for  any  form  of  purely  individual  instruc- 
tion would  be  excessive. 

All  supplies  and  materials  are  purchased  by  the  city.  The 
pupils  pay  the  cost  of  material  for  private,  individual  projects. 
They  take  home  what  they  make  unless  the  article  is  of  use  to 
the  school.  The  appended  list  shows  that  many  things  are  made 
for  the  school.  No  part  of  the  output  of  the  shops  has  been 
sold. 


100     A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

The  original  installation  of  the  shop  equipment  was  completed 
in  1895.  All  additional  shafting  and  machinery  have  been 
installed  by  the  instructors,  assisted  by  pupils.  This  work  of 
pupils  has  always  taken  the  place  of  other  shop  exercises,  and 
has  been  conducted  in  such  a  systematic  way  as  to  give  valuable 
experience  together  with  clear  and  definite  ideas  of  practical 
methods  of  procedure.  Student  labor  has  never  been  used  merely 
to  get  a  given  job  done  quickly  and  cheaply. 

14.  This  question  is  intended  to  indicate  an  educational  aim 
which  has  existed  in  manual  training  high  schools  for  many 
years  without  being  clearly  recognized  and  formulated.  It  is 
not  yet  possible  to  give  it  an  accurate  and  comprehensive  defini- 
tion. Not  many  boys  enter  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
with  this  aim  fairly  definitely  in  mind,  but  its  significance  is 
measurably  revealed  as  they  go  on  with  the  course.  The  work 
of  the  school  may  be  improved  in  this  general  direction  by  further 
development  of  the  courses  in  industrial  chemistry  and  physics, 
industrial  history,  the  first  year  course  in  elementary  applied 
science,  and  by  increased  emphasis  upon  the  applications  of 
mathematics  together  with  more  instruction  in  the  shops  relat- 
ing to  various  phases  of  industry.  To  go  further  and  devote 
much  more  time  to  shop  work  and  drawing,  put  the  shops  on 
something  like  a  productive  basis,  provide  for  much  more  indi- 
vidual instruction  and  for  group  work  on  fairly  important  pro- 
jects, would  increase  the  expense  enormously  and  diminish  cor- 
respondingly the  number  of  pupils  that  could  be  accommodated. 
The  equipment  is  well  adapted  to  such  work  as  has  been  carried 
on  and  will  yield  readily  to  considerable  modification  in  details 
of  method,  but  it  is  not  suited  to  work  approaching  that  of  a 
trade  school.  The  safe  course  is  to  seek  for  practicable  improve- 
ments of  existing  methods  rather  than  for  radical  changes  of 
general  policy.  In  most  departments,  changes  in  the  character 
of  the  work  and  in  methods  of  procedure  have  been  made  every 
year  since  the  school  was  organized.  In  several  departments 
the  changes  made  during  the  past  three  years  have  been  im- 
portant. Funds  are  not  available  to  sustain  a  much  more 
expensive  policy.  The  school  has  always  done  very  much  more 
than  is  generally  realized  to  make  boys  "industry  wise." 

15  and  16.  Visits  to  industrial  establishments  are  made  by 
members  of  the  fourth  year  class  under  the  direction  of  the 


Appendix  E  101 

teachers  of  chemistry  and  of  shop  work.  These  visits  are  care- 
fully planned  and  explanations  are  given  in  advance  touching 
the  points  of  interest  to  be  observed.  More  of  these  visits 
would  be  profitable,  but  they  require  the  time  of  instructors  and 
involve  expense  for  which  no  provision  has  been  made.  Oc- 
casional addresses  by  manufacturers,  foremen,  etc.,  are  likely  to 
be  worth  while.  It  is  not  probable,  however,  that  they  can  be 
made  a  permanent  part  of  the  regular  instruction.  Practical 
men  are  not  likely  to  be  good  lecturers  and  those  who  are  can 
hardly  be  expected  to  give  their  time  freely  year  after  year. 

17.  (a)  Boys  generally  work  from  drawings  made  by  them- 
selves, though  the  drawings  are  often  pencil  sketches  carefully 
made,  but  not  to  exact  scale. 

(b)  Most  of  the  prints  used  in  the  shops,  after  the  first  year, 
are  from  original  drawings  and  tracings  made  in  the  drawing 
department  by  pupils. 

(c)  The  work  is  done  mainly  as  follows: 

First  year,  from  sketches  made  in  the  shop. 

Second  year,  from  sketches  made  in  the  shop. 

Third  year,  from  blueprints  of  drawings  made  in  the  drawing 
room  by  the  pupil  doing  the  work  or  by  other  pupils.  Some 
blackboard  drawing  by  the  instructor  is  used. 

Fourth  year,  some  blueprints  of  drawings  made  in  the  drawing 
room  are  used.  Many  sketches,  especially  of  other  than  standard 
pieces,  are  made  in  the  shops. 

The  shop  instructor  checks  the  drawings  made  in  the  shops. 

(f)  The  shop  projects  are  usually  determined  by  the  head  of 
the  department  in  consultation  with  his  assistants,  in  accord- 
ance with  general  plans  approved  by  the  headmaster. 

(g)  The  work  of  the  shops  is  laid  out  and  the  character  of 
the  drawings  for  executing  it  is  determined  by  the  shop  in- 
structor.    The   first   drawings   are   sometimes   made   by   him. 
Models  for  use  in  the  drawing  room  are  occasionally  made  in 
the  shops. 

(h),  (i),  (j).  The  shops  and  drawing  rooms  are  intimately 
related  as  indicated  above.  Each  department  has  its  own 
function,  but  the  purposes  of  both  are  often  served  at  the  same 
time.  It  is  desirable  to  emphasize  the  practical  applications  of 
drawing,  but  the  exact  relation  which  exists  between  the  draw- 
ing rooms  and  the  shops  in  a  manufacturing  establishment  is 
not  wholly  practicable  in  a  school.  In  the  industries  the  work 
to  be  done  is  determined  and  planned  in  the  drafting  room,  to 


102     A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

be  executed  in  the  shops,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  obtaining  a  pro- 
duct which  can  be  sold.  The  purpose  of  the  school  is  to  co-ordi- 
nate shop  work  and  drawing  and  give  thorough  instruction  in  both. 

18.  The  aim  of  the  work  in  each  shop  is  (1)  to  give  the  pupil 
the  power  to  handle  intelligently  the  fundamental  tools  and 
materials  of  the  trade  (pattern-making,  for  example),  and  (2) 
to  give  him  as  much  knowledge  of  the  essential  processes  as 
practicable  by  making  typical  products  (patterns)  fairly  well. 
Neither  technique  nor  output  should  be  strongly  emphasized. 
Knowledge  and  power  are  the  desirable  ends. 

19.  Best  explained  in  an  interview. 
20  and  21.  See  appended  list. 

22.  Among  the  purposes  of  the  shop  work  are  all  of  those  sug- 
gested by  (a-f),  inclusive. 

VI 

THE  DRAWING* 

The  time  given  to  drawing  is  as  follows: 

First  year,  lessons  on  alternate  days,  equivalent  to  2j/^  per- 
iods per  week. 

Second  year,  lessons  on  alternate  days,  equivalent  to  2*/£  per- 
iods per  week. 

Third  year,  lessons  on  alternate  days,  equivalent  to  23/£  per- 
iods per  week. 

Fourth  year,  lessons  daily,  5  periods  per  week,  in  either  (a) 
architectural  design,  (b)  machine  design,  (c)  industrial  design. 

In  the  first  year,  about  three-fourths  of  the  time  is  given  to 
free-hand  work,  mainly  technical  sketching,  the  rest  to  instru- 
mental working  drawings  of  simple  objects.  This  course  is 
intended  to  co-ordinate  and  make  more  effective  the  drawing 
required  in  the  shops  and  in  the  classes  in  elementary  science. 

The  second  year  is  devoted  to  orthographic  projection — type 
forms,  cutting  planes,  etc. — together  with  elementary  machine 
drawing.  Much  of  this  work  is  preceded  by  free-hand  sketches 
which  take  about  one-fourth  of  the  entire  time. 

The  third  year  is  devoted  to  orthographic  projection,  inter- 
section of  solids,  and  architectural  and  machine  drawing.  Many 
of  the  architectural  and  machine  drawings  are  preceded  by 
free-hand  sketches.  This  free-hand  work  takes  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  entire  time. 


*  For  list  of  questions  answered  below  see  Section  F  of  Appendix  L. 


Appendix  E  103 

In  the  fourth  year  a  boy  may  give  his  entire  time  to  one  of 
the  following: 

(a)  Architectural  design. 

(b)  Machine  design. 

(c)  Industrial  design. 

The  work  in  (c)  is  mainly  free-hand;  in  (a)  and  (b)  about 
one-fourth  of  the  time  is  given  to  free-hand  sketching. 

Number  of  drawings  by  each  pupil: 
First  year,  50+. 
Second  year,  20-25. 
Third  year,  15-18. 
Fourth  year,  12-15. 

The  only  available  samples  of  drawings  are  mounted  so  that 
it  is  inconvenient  to  send  them.  I  hope  that  it  will  be  possible 
for  you  to  examine  them  with  me  at  the  school.  Nearly  all  of 
the  drawings  have  been  taken  away  by  the  boys  who  made 
them. 

VII 

ADDITIONAL  QUESTIONS 

1-3  inc.  Definite  instruction  is  regularly  given  upon  such 
topics  as:  sources,  methods  of  production,  varieties,  and  char- 
acteristics of  iron,  steel,  and  other  materials  used  in  machine 
construction;  grinding  wheels,  files,  belts,  lubricants,  measuring 
tools,  standards  of  measure,  transmission  of  power,  art  of  cutting 
metals;  origin,  preparation,  transportation,  local  purchasing 
points,  and  cost  per  thousand  of  many  varieties  of  lumber;  mater- 
ials used  in  the  shops,  such  as  glue,  brads,  screws,  shellac;  name, 
size,  standard  makes,  price,  and  local  purchasing  points  of  all 
the  ordinary  tools.  Special  attention  is  given  to  computing 
cost  of  stock,  both  from  drawings  and  from  direct  measure- 
ments. This  computation  takes  account  of  percentage  of 
waste,  value  of  lumber  in  the  pile,  cost  of  delivery,  etc. 

Some  of  these  topics  are  treated  by  talks  occupying  the 
greater  part  of  a  lesson.  Others  are  introduced  in  connection 
with  lectures  dealing  with  the  shop  processes  which  suggest 
them.  No  set  time  is  assigned  to  such  work.  It  is  all  done 
incidentally  in  connection  with  the  demonstrations  and  discus- 
sions in  the  shops.  The  total  amount  of  time  given  to  it  has 
not  been  great,  but  the  interest  aroused  has  been  encouraging. 
Some  of  the  information  suggested  above  is  emphasized  in  visits 
to  manufacturing  plants. 


104       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

Commercial  shop  methods  are  always  mentioned  and  ex- 
plained in  comparison  with  the  simpler  job-shop  methods  by 
which  the  pupil  is  usually  first  made  acquainted  with  a  process, 
and  frequently  the  commercial  method  of  procedure  is  actually 
used  in  the  school  shops.  For  example,  a  given  process  is 
taught  by  performing  the  operation  upon  a  number  of  pieces  in 
a  lot;  special  fixtures  are  set  up  for  handling  the  entire  work  of 
a  group;  simple  jigs,  forming  tools,  and  other  means  of  securing 
rapid  production  and  interchangeability  are  used.  Pupils 
often  participate  in  planning  and  making  the  special  tools  re- 
quired. In  the  machine  shop  tool-rooms,  up-to-date  reference 
books  are  kept  for  students'  use,  giving  data  concerning  tools, 
screws,  bolts,  and  a  multitude  of  standard  machine  parts  and 
shop  supplies. 

In  all  departments  there  is  some  form  of  shop  system  cal- 
culated to  emphasize  the  need  of  co-operation,  the  checking  and 
inspection  of  work,  the  cost  of  material,  the  value  of  time,  and 
the  general  responsibility  of  each  pupil  for  efficiency.  These 
matters  receive  increased  attention  in  the  latter  part  of  the  shop 
and  drawing  courses,  and  become  relatively  more  important  as 
the  time  devoted  to  these  subjects  by  a  given  pupil  is  increased. 

An  entire  class  in  drawing  is  sometimes  treated  as  a  drafting 
room  force. 

Blanks  are  herewith  submitted  indicating  the  development  of 
a  simple  shop  system  adapted  to  produce  some  of  the  results 
above  mentioned. 

We  are  inclined  to  increase  the  attention  given  to  the  above 
and  to  whatever  is  suggested  by  la,  b,  c,  d,  e. 

The  teaching  is  by  instructors  who  have  had  practical  exper- 
ience in  the  industries. 

VIII 
QUALIFICATIONS  OF  TEACHERS 

Mr.  Eddy,  head  of  the  department  of  wood-working,  was  a 
journeyman  carpenter,  who  became  one  of  the  pioneer  teachers 
of  manual  training  in  the  Boston  grammar  schools.  He  has  done 
much  high  grade  cabinet  making  and  carving.  I  think  that  he 
gave  you  a  fairly  full  account  of  his  career. 

Mr.  Sweet,  head  of  the  department  of  machine  shop  practice, 
spent  seven  years  as  apprentice  and  journeyman  machinist, 
three  years  as  superintendent  of  the  shops  of  the  Cambridge 


Appendix  E  105 

Street  Railway,  after  which  he  was  employed  seven  years  as 
instructor  in  machine  shop  work  in  the  Rindge  Manual  Train- 
ing School,  before  coming  to  this  school  in  1896. 

Mr.  Raymond,  head  of  the  department  of  forging,  spent  one 
year  as  a  stationary  engineer,  about  three  years  working  at  gen- 
eral blacksmithing,  three  years  as  instructor  of  forging  in  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  and  three  years  as 
instructor  in  forging  in  the  Chicago  Manual  Training  School, 
before  coming  to  this  school  in  1895. 

Mr.  Turner,  head  of  the  department  of  pattern-making, 
spent  fourteen  years  with  the  Gamewell  Fire  Alarm  Telegraph 
Company  as  apprentice,  journeyman,  department  foreman, 
chief  inspector,  traveling  salesman,  and  superintendent  of  the 
factory.  With  this  company  he  had  experience  in  a  very  wide 
range  of  mechanical  work.  He  then  had  eight  years'  experience 
as  a  teacher  of  machine  shop  work  in  the  Rindge  Manual  Train- 
ing School,  before  coming  to  this  school. 

Mr.  Knapp,  head  of  the  department  of  drawing,  was  gradu- 
ated from  this  school  in  1896,  in  the  first  class  which  was  sent 
out.  After  spending  one  year  in  the  Engineering  School  of 
Tufts  College  and  one  year  in  the  Massachusetts  Normal  Art 
School,  he  returned  to  this  school  as  a  special  assistant,  and  has 
worked  his  way  up  by  steadily  increasing  efficiency.  He  has 
never  worked  in  an  industrial  establishment,  but  has  had  valu- 
able experience  in  practical  architectural  work,  and  in  making 
drawings  to  be  sent  to  the  patent  office.  He  made  many  of  the 
illustrations  for  Professor  Hoffman's  Metallurgy.  He  has  been 
a  faithful  student  of  industrial  methods. 

After  graduating  from  the  Rindge  Manual  Training  School, 
Mr.  Temple  had  nine  years  of  successful  experience  in  the  draft- 
ing rooms  of  industrial  establishments.  He  received  a  diploma 
in  each  of  two  courses  in  Lowell  School  for  Industrial  Foremen. 

Mr.  Perry  was  graduated  from  the  Natick  High  School  in 
1901,  and  from  the  Massachusetts  Normal  Art  School  in  1905. 
He  had  successful  experience  in  teaching  and  did  considerable 
commercial  illustrative  work,  before  coming  to  this  school. 

Mr.  Parsons  was  graduate  from  Cornell  University,  B.  S. 
in  architecture,  1896.  He  had  fifteen  years  of  experience  as  an 
architectural  draftsman,  and  in  private  practice  as  an  archi- 
tect, before  coming  to  this  school.  He  had  taught  three  years 
in  the  Central  Evening  Industrial  School. 


106     A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 


APPENDIX  F 

TABLE  1 

TABLE  SHOWING  OCCUPATIONS  OF  GRADUATES  OF  THE   MECHANICS  ART  HIGH 

SCHOOL 


Total  Reporting  

•96 

'97 

'98 

'99 

'00 

'01 

'02 

'03 

'04 

'05 

'06 

'07 

08 

*'10 

Total 

1316 
12 
37 

8 
7 

25 

28 
21 
3 
23 
15 
14 
18 
27 
12 
4 
7 
6 
3 

6 
2 
2 
1 
3 
4 

15 
4 
3 
1 
2 
1 
1 
1 

*8 
3 

1 
1 

1 

2 

5 
1 

1 
*2 

2 
4 
1 
2 

1 
'4 

'i 

3 

1 

2 

'2 
'7 

2 
3 

Electrical  work  
Draftsmen  and  designers.  .  .  . 
Mechanics,  general  

i 

3 

2 
2 

1 

2 

'2 

*i 

2 

8 
2 

1 
1 
1 
1 

7 

4 

3 

'2 

"i 

6 

3 
1 

1 
5 

4 

4 

Machinists 

1 

i 

3 
1 

1 
2 

1 

5 

'i 
i 
i 

1 
1 

2 

2 

1 

3 

'2 

1 

'i 
'2 

Superintendents,  inspectors, 
foremen,  etc.  (mech.  work) 
Engineers,  civil,  mechanical, 
electrical,  sanitary  
Assistants  to  engineers  
Assistants,  technical  colleges 
Teachers,    mech.   branches. 
Salesmen,  mechanical  goods  . 
Salesmen,  general  

i 
i 

'i 

'2 
2 
3 

'i 

3 
2 

"i 

2 
1 

3 

3 

*2 
1 

i 

i 

3 
1 
6 

1 

'3 
3 
5 

'5 
3 
1 

•  GO  l-i  CO  •  Cn 

Clerks  mechanical 

2 

1 
1 

i 

'2 

2 

'3 
1 

'3 
1 

Clerks  commercial 

Business,  mechanical  
Business,  general  

Architects  
Chemists  
Farmers,  florists,  etc  
U.  S.  Service,  forestry,  geo. 
survey,  reclamation,  etc. 
Dentists 

1 
2 
1 

'i 

1 

1 

1 

'l 

1 
1 
1 

1 
1 

2 
1 

2 

1 

i 

1 

1 

Chauffeurs 

i 

1 

Aviators 

'i 

1 

4 

'i 
i 
i 

i 

i 

1 

3 

2 
f, 

2 
2 

4 

Miscellaneous  
Students 
Mass.  Inst.  Tech  
Tufts  
Harvard 

:; 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 
1 
1 

1 

Textile  School 

Mass.  Agricul.  College  — 
Worcester  Technical 

Harvard  Dental  School.  .  . 
Mass.  Normal  Art  

This  exhibit,  compiled  in  April,  1912,  shows  all  of  the  responses 
to  requests  for  information  mailed  to  the  last  known  address  of 
every  graduate  on  May  3,  1911.  The  total  number  of  graduates 
was  then  1,547. 

*Class  of  1909  is  omitted  because  all  of  the  members  had  previously 
received  a  third  year  diploma. 


Appendix  F 


107 


TABLE  2 
EXHIBIT  OF  EMPLOYMENT  OF  GRADUATES  OF  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL 


1896 

'97 

•98 

'99 

'(A) 

'01 

'02 

'03 

'04 

'05 

'or. 

'07 

Total 

Total  Reporting      

575 

96 
9 

8 
83 

27 
1 
22 
69 

30 
11 
65 
4 
7 
17 
17 
22 
2 
4 

2 

22 
5 
2 
2 
1 
7 
3 
4 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 

1 
1 
2 

1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
11 

Students 
Mass.  Inst.  Tech  

2 

3 

1 

3 
1 

G 
1 

7 

6 

17 
1 

1 
6 

2 

11 
1 
3 

15 

18 
3 

12 

10 
2 

1 

15 

12 

ii 
1 

Lawrence  Sci 

Normal  Art  

1 

'6 

10 
1 

2 
1 

4 

'G 

3 

'3 
2 

Other  institutions  
Graduates 
Mass.  Inst.  Tech..  .  .  
Lawrence  Sci 

4 
3 

1 

2 

3 

Electrical  business  
Draftsmen 

'2 
3 
'3 

2 
2 

1 

1 

'i 

2 
1 

1 

5 

2 
1 

2 
1 

2 
1 
5 
3 

'o 

'2 
i 
i 

2 

3 
2 
1 

'G 

5 
1 

'2 
2 
4 

'2 

1 
3 
2 

2 
2 
4 

2 

5 

4 
2 

7 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 

4 
6 

3 
'9 

2 

1 
1 
3 

3 
11 

6 
1 
9 

'2 
'2 

G 
13 

G 
4 
13 

8 

4 
11 

3 
12 

'i 

1 
1 

Stair,  pattern-makers,  and 
other  mechanics  
Machinists  

Clerks 

Assistants,  M.  I.  T  
Teachers  (mech.  branches) 
Assistants  to  engineers  
Civil  and  mech.  engineers. 
Salesmen 

3 

'i 

Mill  fmginperfl.  ,  

Dentists 

1 

1 

1 
? 

•• 

1 

Designers   (reflectors,   pat- 
terns) 

Mech.  superintendents, 
foremen  and  inspectors... 
Forestry  
Florists  and  fruit  growers 

3 

i 

9 

3 

2 

1 
1 

2 
1 

6 
3 

2 

2 

.. 

Sanitary  research  

1 

1 
1 

•• 

Advertisers 

Mining  engineers  
Lawyers  .  . 

3 
1 

2 

1 
1 
I 

1 
1 

Insurance  

? 

Lumber  

1 

1 

Contractors  

1 
1 

1 

i 

-• 

U.  S.  Navy  Cadet 

Marine  cadet  

1 

Graduates 
Colo,  and  Yale 

1 

1 

Univ.  of  Maine  
Ministry  (student) 

1 

Publishers 

1 

1 

Merchants  . 

1 

Chemists  

1 

i 

i 

Mosaic  glass  worker  
Heal  estate 

'i 

Dairy  farm  and  milk  
Banker  and  broker 

1 

'2 
] 

•• 

'i 

'i 

i 

Cotton  and  wool  
Musician 

1 

•• 

•• 

Unemployed  

1 

| 

l 

1 

1 

r 

This  exhibit,  compiled  in  September,  1908,  shows  all  of  the 
responses  to  requests  for  information  mailed  to  the  last  known 


108     A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 


address  of  every  graduate  on  February  17,  1908.     The  total 
number  of  graduates  was  then  1,188. 


APPENDIX  G 

TABLE  GIVING  COMPARISON  OF  OCCUPATIONS  OF  GRADUATES  OF  THE  ME- 
CHANIC ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL  AND  THE  ENGLISH  HIGH  SCHOOL 


M.A.H.S.    E.  H.  S 


Students 

Lawyers 

Clergymen 

Physicians 

Dentists 

Veterinary 

Actors 

Clerks 

Salesmen  and  buyers 

Bookkeepers 

Merchants 

Bankers  and  brokers 

Manufacturers 

Real  estate  and  insurance 

Professors,  principals,  and  teachers 

Architects  and  draftsmen 

Artists  and  photographers 

Musicians 

Assessors,  commissioners,  and  examiners,  etc 

Piano  workers 

Truckmen 

Policemen 

Letter  carriers 

Engineers,  civil,  sanitary,  S.  S.,  elec.  mech.,  and  min. 

Collectors  and  credit  men 

Editors  and  journalists 

Machinists  and  patternmakers 

Contractors,  carpenters,  and  roofers 

Electric  and  telephone 

Tinsmiths  and  plumbers 

Superintendents  and  managers 

Conductors  and  firemen 

Printers,  engravers,  and  proofreaders 

Railroad  agents 

Druggists  and  chemists 

Painters  and  decorators 

Private  secretaries  and  stenographers 

Reporters 

Publishers  and  advertisers 

Hotel  and  liverymen 

Watchmakers  and  opticians 

Farmers  and  ranchmen 

Statistician 

Mining 

Observer  United  States  Weather  Bureau 

Captain  S.  S.  and  marine  officers 

Janitors  and  porters 

Tailors 


28 


28 


72 
32 
10 
28 
5 

5 

134 

95 

36 

78 

14 

18 

18 

10 

9 

4 

4 

3 

4 

7 

8 

10 

33 

4 


Appendix  H 


109 


APPENDIX  G  (Continued) 


M.  A.  H.  S. 

E.  H.  8. 

Chauffeurs 

2 

Assistants  to  engineers  

21 

Assistants  in  technical  college 

3 

Business  general  

4 

Business  mechanical 

12 

Aviator             

1 

Miscellaneous 

4 

19 

316 

808 

Naturally  all  the  information  in  the  above  tabulation  was 
gathered  by  the  faculty  of  each  school  through  the  answers  to 
questions  made  by  graduates  at  class  reunion  and  dinners  and 
necessarily  represents  a  fragmentary  study  of  what  are  probably 
the  most  loyal  and  successful  students  of  the  two  schools. 

If  we  disregard,  on  the  one  hand,  the  occupations  requiring 
a  general  college  education,  such  as  students,  lawyers,  clergy- 
men, physicians,  professors,  principals,  and  teachers  of  the 
liberal  and  cultural  subjects,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  occupa- 
tions requiring  a  technical  college  education  such  as  assistants 
in  technical  college,  engineers  of  all  kinds,  architects,  and  pro- 
fessors, principals,  and  teachers  of  technical  subjects,  it  does 
not  appear  that  there  is  very  much  difference  on  the  whole  in 
the  variety  or  character  of  the  callings  followed  by  the  gradu- 
ates. 


APPENDIX  H 

SUGGESTIONS  AS  TO  DEVICES  IN  GETTING  HOLD  OF 
PUPILS   DESIRING  TO  BE  TRAINED  TO  BE  IN- 
DUSTRIAL CADETS 

1.  Co-operation  of  the  authorities  of  the  Mechanic  Arts 
High  School  with  the  grammar  schools  and  the  other  high  schools 
of  the  city  by  means  of  frequent  and  regular  conferences  with 
the  principals,  teachers,  and  vocational  counselors  of  the  gram- 
mar schools  and  the  headmasters  and  vocational  counselors  of 
the  other  high  schools. 


110     A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

2.  Conferences  with  prospective  pupils  and  their  parents,  in 
order  to  determine  the  pupil's  interests,  aptitudes,  and  pros- 
pects, his  motives  in  coming  to  the  school,  and  his  probable 
fitness  to  profit  by  the  training  it  offers. 

3.  Complete  records  from  the  grammar  school,  giving  not 
only  the  usual  school  data,  but  also  full  information  concerning 
the  pupil's  health,  aptitudes,  interests,  and  motives  as  discovered 
in    the    grammar    school    through    vocational    guidance.     The 
record  cards  should  be  carefully  worked  out  and  sent  to  the 
M.  A.  H.  S.  for  use  by  the  vocational  counselor  of  the  high 
school. 

4.  Records   of   information   from   employers   for   whom   the 
prospective  pupil  may  have  worked,  touching  such  matters  as 
interests,  reliability,  industriousness,  habits,  etc. 

5.  Records  of  information  from  parents  covering  such  matters 
as  occupation  of  parent,  health  of  pupil,  outside  interests  and 
employment  of  pupil,  reasons  for  employment,  parent's  reason 
for  selecting  the  school,  and  length  of  time  he  intends  the  pupil 
shall  attend. 

6.  Conferences  with  the  headmasters  or  vocational  counsel- 
ors of  other  high  schools,  and  with  parents  before  transfers  are 
made  to  or  from  the  school. 

7.  Systematic  plans  of  advertising  the  work  and  aim  of  the 
school  among  pupils,  teachers,  and  vocational  counselors  of  the 
grammar  schools,  and  the  general  public,  including,  besides  con- 
ferences, such  means  as  lectures,  circulars,  and  newspaper  ar- 
ticles. 

8.  Visits  organized  intelligently  to  inspect  the  Mechanic  Arts 
High  School  where  the  work  is  explained  to  grammar  school 
pupils.     Parents'  visits  also  should  be  arranged. 

9.  Tie  up  this  work  of  selection  with  a  well-rounded  pre-voca- 
tional  scheme  of  selection  which  will  afford  pupils  a  chance  to 
sample  varied  industrial  activities  in  the  upper  grades  of  the 
elementary  school  before  selecting  a  secondary  school. 


Appendix  I 


111 


APPENDIX  I 

COMPARATIVE  PER  CAPITA  COST  OF  MAINTENANCE 
OF  VARIOUS  BOSTON  HIGH  SCHOOLS  AND  VOCA- 
TIONAL SCHOOLS 

EXHIBIT  I 
COST  OF  INSTRUCTION  PER  PUPIL 


Public  Latin 
School 

English  High 
School 

Mechanic  Arts 
High    School 

1895-tf  

$7829 

$  82.28 

$  125.05 

1896-7.. 

7906 

77.02 

96.06 

1898-9  

88.81 

83.49 

75.90 

1899-00  

8927 

84.89 

74.07 

1900-1 

10087 

93.93 

79.45 

1901-2 

103  54 

108.56 

74.77 

1902-3  

97.80 

94.89 

73.27 

1903-4  

100.61 

91.69 

73.53 

From  1895  to  1904  the  per  capita  cost  of  instruction  per  pupil 
in  the  Public  Latin  School  increased  more  than  29%,  and  in 
the  English  High  School  more  than  11%;  while  at  the  same 
time  the  cost  per  pupil  of  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  de- 
creased more  than  40%.  The  decrease  at  the  latter  was  pro- 
duced almost  entirely  by  increasing  the  number  of  pupils  taught 
by  each  teacher  in  the  class  and  shop  rooms.  The  table  given 
below  shows  that  since  1903-4  there  has  been  a  very  marked 
decrease  in  the  cost  of  instruction  at  the  first  two  boys'  schools 
named  above  and  a  very  marked  increase  at  the  Mechanic 
Arts  High  School.  At  the  latter  school  the  increase  has  been 
due  largely  to  the  decrease  in  the  total  attendance  of  the  school 
during  the  past  three  or  four  years. 

The  per  capita  cost  in  the  Trade  School  for  Girls  for  the  year 
ending  January  31,  1912,  based  on  the  average  membership, 
was  as  follows: 

FOR  PERIOD  OF  TEN  MONTHS 

Exclusive  of  cost  of  administration,  supervision,  and  general  charges  $114.45 
Inclusive  of  cost  of  administration,  supervision,  and  general  charges    118.76 

The  per  capita  cost  in  the  Mechanic  Arts  High  School  for  the 
same  period,  based  on  average  membership,  exclusive  of  the  cost 
of  administration,  supervision,  and  general  charges,  was  $88.53. 


112      A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High]School 

EXHIBIT  2 

COST  PER  CAPITA  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  BOSTON  HIGH  SCHOOLS  FOR 
THE  YEAR  1912 

Normal $170.24 

Brighton 94.24 

Latin 93.80 

Mechanics 88.53 

East  Boston 79.19 

Charlestown 78.85 

South  Boston 78.64 

Commerce 77.98 

West  Roxbury 77.61 

Girls'  Latin 74.81 

Practical  Arts 74.69 

English 74.51 

Roxbury 71.62 

Dorchester 67.09 

Girls'  High 52.53 


APPENDIX  J 

ANNOUNCEMENT  OF  INTENTIONS  CONCERNING  COLLEGE  MADE  BY  PUPILS  OF 
MECHANICS  ART  HIGH  SCHOOL,  MARCH  28,  1912 


Number 

dumber  not 

Year 

Total 

going  to 

Undecided 

going   to 

College 

College 

First 

513 

181 

78 

254 

Second 

315 

150 

14 

151 

Third  

233 

110 

16 

107 

Fourth  

230 

101 

15 

114 

APPENDIX  K 

POSITIONS   FOR   WHICH   GRADUATES   OF   THE   ME- 
CHANIC ARTS  SCHOOL  OF  BOSTON  SHOULD  BE 
PROPERLY  FITTED 

This  report  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Arthur  Williston,  director  of 
Wentworth  Institute,  for  all  the  material  presented  in  this  Ap- 
pendix. 

If  the  Mechanic  Arts  School  of  Boston  is  modified  in  its  plans 
according  to  the  recommendations  which  I  have  submitted  so 


Appendix  K  113 

as  to  make  its  central  purpose  efficiency  in  preparation  for 
practical  work  of  life  rather  than  preparation  for  college,  its 
graduates  would  be  well  fitted  for  the  large  and  already  rapidly 
increasing  number  of  important  positions  in  mechanical,  elec- 
trical, and  architectural  fieldss. 

The  four  year  course,  as  I  have  recommended  it,  is  not  in- 
tended to  educate  engineers,  investigators,  or  teachers  of  ap- 
plied science  as  is  the  technical  course  of  the  college  and  uni- 
versities, nor  is  it  expected  that  this  course  will  enable  its  gradu- 
ates to  serve  the  more  important  and  far-reaching  problems  in 
modern  engineering;  nor  is  it,  on  the  other  hand,  a  trade  course 
intended  for  those  who  wish  to  become  merely  artisans  or  me- 
chanics— this  course  occupies  a  middle  position  between  these 
two  field. 

The  trained  workers  in  mechanical,  electrical,  and  archi- 
tectural fields  at  the  present  time  may  be  divided  in  a  general 
way  into  three  distinct  classes.  The  first  and  highest  comprises 
men  of  superior  ability  and  attainment  who  ordinate  or  direct 
important  operations  requiring,  as  a  rule,  the  services  of  many 
subordinates.  In  the  second  class  we  find  the  engineering  experts, 
the  designing  and  consulting  engineers,  and  many  others  who 
bear  the  prime  responsibility  for  the  successful  operation  of 
industrial  or  engineering  enterprises.  The  third  and  last  class 
is  composed  of  the  skilled  and  unskilled  laborers,  the  mechanics 
of  various  degrees  of  training  and  efficiency. 

Between  the  highest  and  the  lowest  class,  however,  there  is 
another  field — the  workers  of  which  constitute  an  intermediate 
class  and  occupy  positions  secondary  and  subordinate  to  the 
members  of  the  first  class,  but,  nevertheless,  of  much  importance. 
The  field  for  this  intermediate  class  of  workers  has  been  widen- 
ing very  rapidly  the  last  decade  or  two,  especially  during  the 
last  decade.  In  a  general  way  the  workers  in  it  are  the  assistants 
to  the  engineers,  the  supervisors  of  skilled  labor  or  the  specialists 
forming  one  kind  or  another  of  operations  that  require  some 
special  knowledge  or  training  in  excess  of  that  ordinarily  possessed 
by  the  skilled  mechanic.  The  graduates  of  the  Mechanic  Arts 
School  of  Boston  should  be  competent  to  fill  positions  of  this  kind. 

I  can  perhaps  further  indicate  the  type  of  positions  that  I 
have  reference  to  by  giving  a  list  of  typical  positions  in  this 
class  in  mechanical,  electrical,  and  architectural  lines  of  work. 


114     A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School. 

MECHANICAL  POSITIONS  FOB  WHICH  GRADUATES  OF  THE  ME- 
CHANIC ARTS  SCHOOL  SHOULD  BE  FITTED 

No.  1.  In  factories  and  manufacturing  plants — 

Inspectors 

Detail  designers 

Draftsmen 

Erection  foremen 

Engineers'  assistants 

Cost  accountants 

Production  clerks  and  foremen 

Piece  work  supervisors  and  foremen 

Master  mechanics 

Department  superintendents 

Testers  of  special  apparatus 

Builders  and  testers  of  experimental  work 

Stock  clerks 

Production  clerks  for  various  departments 

Investigators  of  efficiency  of  different  methods  of  construction 

Etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

The  above  list  is  far  from  complete  as  there  is  not  a  large 
modern  factory  but  what  has  in  its  organization  the  engineer 
and  the  skilled  mechanics,  and  a  very  large  number  of  positions 
of  which  the  above  are  typical. 

No.  2.  For  power  plants  and  office  buildings — 
Assistant  engineers 
Stationary  engineers 

Superintendents  in  charge  of  heating  systems  and  mechanical 
equipments. 

No.  3.  Motive  power  department  in  steam  and  electric  rail- 
road— 

A  great  variety  of  positions  similar  to  those  indicated  in  group 
No.  1 

No.  4.  For  factory  and  steam  boiler  insurance  companies — 

Inspectors 

Draftsmen 

Etc.,  etc. 

No.  5.  For  sales  department  of  factory  and  machine  houses — 

Clerks 
Salesmen 


Appendix  R  115 

Assistant  engineers,  etc.,  etc.,  who  are  competent  to  describe 
intelligently  mechanical  advantages  and  advise  customers 
of  the  proper  size  and  kind  of  machinery  to  purchase  for 
their  particular  work  and  how  to  install  it  so  as  to  obtain  its 
proper  efficiency. 

ELECTRICAL  POSITIONS  FOR  WHICH  GRADUATES  OF  THE  ME- 
CHANIC ARTS  SCHOOL  SHOULD  BE  FITTED 

No.  1.  Electrical  manufacturing — 

(a)  Dynamos,  motors,  and  general  power  apparatus — 

Draftsmen  and  detail  designers 
Sub-foremen  in  shops 

Testers  of  apparatus  in  process  of  and  after  construc- 
tion 

Foremen  of  erection  in  power  plant 
Switchboard  and  power  plant  wiremen 
Engineers'  assistants 

(b)  Telephones,  telephone  switchboards,  and  cables — 

Switchboard  wiremen 
Switchboard  testers  and  inspectors 
Cable  testers 
Draftsmen 

(c)  Electrical  instruments  and  apparatus — 

Inspectors 
Draftsmen 
Calibrators 

No.  2.  Power  and  lighting  (operating  companies) — 
Meter  testers 

Switchboard  and  sub-station  attendants 
Line  foremen 

Sub-foremen  on  repairs  or  alterations 
Draftsmen 
Assistant  stationary  engineers 

No.  3.  Telephony  (operating  companies)— 
Troublemen 
Assistant  wire  chiefs 
Inspectors 

Engineers'  assistants 
Sub-foremen  in  charge  of  construction  or  installation 

of  switchboards,  cables,  etc. 
Assistant  managers  in  traffic  department 

No.  4.  Railroad  work 

(a)  Steam  railroad  switch  and  signal  department — 
Inspectors 


116     A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

Sub-foremen  in  charge  of  maintenance  or  new  installa- 
tions 
(b)  Electric  railroads — 

Power  plant  attendants 

Sub-foremen   of   electrical   maintenance,    repairs,   and 
alterations 

No.  5.  Marine  service  (merchant  and  naval) — 
Draftsmen  in  equipment  department 
Assistants  in  testing  department 
Inspectors  of  electrical  eqiupment 
Assistant  electricians  and  wiremen 

ARCHITECTURAL   POSITIONS   FOR   WHICH    GRADUATES   OF   THE 
CHANIC  ARTS  SCHOOL  SHOULD  BE  FITTED 

No.  1.  In  architects'  offices — 
Draftsmen 
Detail  designers  and  estimators 

No.  2.  Building  operations — 
Inspectors 
Clerks  of  the  works 
Superintendents  of  construction 

No.  3.  In  contractors'  offices — 
Draftsmen 
Estimators 
Inspectors 
Etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

No.  4.  In  planing  mills,  furniture,  and  other  woodworking 
factories — 

Draftsmen 
Detail  designers 
Inspectors  and  foremen 

The  above  list  would  give  in  a  definite  way  the  type  of  posi- 
tions that  I  have  in  mind.  These  positions  have  not  been  chosen 
at  random,  but  are  taken  from  the  list  of  positions  which  the 
graduates  of  our  two  year  course  in  similar  lines  at  Pratt  Insti- 
tute are  holding. 

If  Pratt  Institute  can  prepare  young  men  in  two  years  to  hold 
successfully  such  positions  as  I  have  indicated,  certainly  the 
Mechanic  Arts  School  of  Boston  should  be  able  to  do  the  same 
in  four  years.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Mechanic  Arts  School 
should  maintain  the  full  four  year  course  in  order  that  the 


Appendix  K  117 

graduates  may  have  the  proper  maturity.  Pratt  Institute 
students  are  required  to  be  at  least  seventeen  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  entrance — the  two  years'  difference  in  age  require- 
ments should  be  made  up  by  the  added  length  of  course  in  the 
Mechanic  Arts  School. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  graduates  will  be  fitted  to 
hold  all  of  the  positions  indicated  immediately  upon  gradua- 
tion, nor  that  they  will  remain  always  in  any  one  group  of  posi- 
tions. Tendency  will  be  for  them  to  enter  in  the  more  subor- 
dinate positions,  and  as  they  gain  experience,  be  promoted  into 
the  more  responsible  positions. 

The  following  table  giving  the  record  of  218  graduates  from  a 
two  year  mechanical  course  at  Pratt  Institute  may  be  of  interest 
in  this  connection  in  showing  the  type  of  positions  held  by  recent 
graduates  who  have  had  five  years  or  less  experience  in  practical 
work,  and  corresponding  positions  held  by  graduates  who  have 
had  from  five  to  ten  or  twelve  years'  experience. 

TYPES  OF  POSITIONS  HELD  BY  GRADUATES  OF  TWO   YEAR 
MECHANICAL  COURSE  AT  PRATT  INSTITUTE 

Classes  of  1903    Classes  of  1902 
and  later         and  earlier 

General  managers,  assistant  managers,  superintend- 
ents, or  foremen  in  charge  of  important  depart- 
ments of  manufacturing  plants 11  30 

Proprietors  of  small  manufacturing  plants 3  1 

Chief  engineers 3  6 

Chief  inspectors  or  assistant  chiefs 2 

Chief  draftsmen  or  assistant  chiefs 14  15 

Designers 17  9 

Inspectors 9  3 

Draftsmen... 27  7 

Machinists  and  apprentices 15  1 

Testing  positions 11 

Teachers 2  3 

Students  in  other  schools 12 

Outside  of  manufacturing  and  engineering  work 9  8 

133  85 

Grand  total 218 

Of  those  who  completed  their  course  five  or  more  years  ago, 
63  per  cent  now  hold  responsible  positions,  and  10  per  cent 
have  left  engineering  work. 


118      A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 
APPENDIX  L 

QUESTIONS    SUMITTED   TO   THE   HEADMASTER  OF 

THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL  AND 

ANSWERED  BY  HIM  IN  APPENDIX  E 

I 

KIND  OF  BOY  WITH  WHICH  THE  MECHANIC  ARTS  HIGH  SCHOOL 
DEALS 

1.  Have  you  for  the  past  few  years  accepted  all  the  boys  who 

apply  as  graduates  from  the  Boston  Grammar  School? 

2.  If  you  have  not  accepted  all  of  them,  what  is  the  reason? 

a.  Do  you  lack  accommodations  for  them? 

b.  Are  some  of  them  unsuited  for  the  work? 

c.  Other  reasons. 

3.  If  you  did  not  accept  all  of  them,  on  what  basis  did  you  select 

your  pupils? 

a.  Did  you  reject  some  because  you  consider  them  physically 

unable  to  do  the  work? 

b.  If  so,  on  what  specific  test  or  tests  did  you  base  your 

opinion? 

c.  Did   you   reject   some   because   you    considered    them 

mentally  unable  to  do  the  work? 

d.  On  what  specific  facts  did  you  base  your  opinion,  among 

which  are: 

(1)  Grammar    School    record  in  Arithmetic,   English, 
Grammar,  Nature  Study,  Geography,  and  Manual 
Training. 

(2)  Apparent  general  intelligence,  and  if  so,  what  are 
the  tests  for  this? 

e.  Did  you  reject  some  because  of  apparent  financial  in- 

ability to  complete  the  course? 

f.  If  so,  what  information  did  you  secure  as  a  basis  of  your 

judgment  and  how  did  you  secure  it? 

(1)  Did  you  find  occupation  of  parent? 

(2)  Did  you  get  the  wage  of  parent? 

(3)  Did  you  find  the  home   conditions,  which   might 
include  number  in  family,  income,  both  parents 
alive,  son  of  widow,  step-child? 

(4)  Did  you  prefer  the  boy  who  was  neat,  well-dressed, 

polite,  and  gentlemanly  in  manner? 

g.  Did  you  take  into  consideration  the  deportment  or  con- 

duct record  of  the  applicant  in  the  Grammar  School? 


Appendix  L  119 

h.  Do  you  prefer  a  boy  who  comes  from  a  mechanical  or 

from  a  scholastic  environment? 
i.    Do  you  prefer  a  boy  who  has  been  in  the  habit  of  doing 

concrete  things  or  the  boy  who  has  been  in  the 

habit  of  dealing  largely  with  abstract  things? 
j.   Do  you  prefer  the  boy  who  has  shown  a  tendency  toward 

practical  work  or  academic  work?     What  is  the  test 

or  tests  you  use  for  this  purpose? 
k.  To  what  extent  has  the  wish  of  the  applicant  to  follow  a 

given  occupation  determined  the  selection? 
1.    If  selection  has  been  based  upon  applicant's  prospective 

occupation,  which  occupations  have  been  given  the 

preference? 

4.  To  what  extent  has  the  selection  been  based  upon  interviews 

with  parents? 

5.  What  use  is  made  of  records  of  Grammar  School  in  selecting 

pupils? 

a.  Why  was  this  method  of  selection  used? 

b.  Why  not  draw  names  of  applicants  from  a  hat  or  accept 

them  in  the  order  of  their  registration  until  capacity 
of  school  has  been  reached? 

c.  To  what  subjects  in  the  Grammar  School  records  would 

you  attach  importance  in  choosing  a  pupil? 

d.  Is  this  importance  attached  because  it  is  felt  that  special 

aptitude  in  these  subjects  is  desirable  for  success  in 
the  M.  A.  H.  S.? 

6.  Define  the  kind  of  a  boy  whom  you  regard  as  best  fitted  for 

the  M.  A.  H.  S.  in  terms  of  the  following: 

a.  Kind  of  ability. 

b.  Aim  or  purpose  in  attending  High  School. 

c.  Interest. 

7.  From  your  experience  and  observation  do  you  believe  that  on 

the  whole,  under  the  system  of  free  choice  afforded  in 
Boston,  a  different  type  of  boy  attends  your  school  from 
the  one  who  attends  such  a  general  high  school  as  the 
English  High? 

8.  If  so,  what  in  general  are  the  characteristics  of  the  two  types 

of  boys  and  what  is  the  difference  between  them? 

9.  What  type  or  kind  of  boy  does  such  a  technical  school  as  the 

M.  I.  T.  want,  as  shown  by  their  entrance  examinations? 

a.  Is  it  the  boy  who  has  large  capacity  to  deal  with  ab- 

stractions on  paper? 

b.  Is  it  the  boy  with  the  large  capacity  in  the  abstractions, 

of  mathematics  and  science? 


120      A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

c.  Is  it  the  boy  who  likes  to  work  with  his  hands? 

d.  Is  it  the  boy  having  skill  in  mechanical  processes? 

e.  Is  it  the  boy  who  has  had  considerable  practical  exper- 

ience in  one  way  or  another  with  industry? 

f.  Is  it  the  boy  who  likes  to  work  with  books? 

10.  Do  you  believe  that  under  the  method  used  in  Boston,  the 

boy  best  calculated  to  meet  the  demands  of  such  schools 
as  the  M.  I.  T.  attends  the  M.  A.  H.  S.  rather  than  some 
other  Boston  high  school? 

11.  If  so,  how  do  you  account  for  the  fact  that  the  authorities 

of  the  M.  I.  T.  and  of  Tufts  Engineering  School  report 
that  the  records  of  the  pupils  of  such  manual  training 
and  technical  high  schools  as  the  M.  A.  H.  S.,  and  the 
Rindge  Manual  Training  School,  are  on  the  average 
much  inferior  to  those  of  the  pupils  who  come  from  regu- 
lar high  schools  in  Boston  and  elsewhere? 

12.  Do  you  believe  that  the  course  of  study  of  the  M.  A.  H.  S. 

should  continue  to  serve  as  a  preparation  for  the  tech- 
nical college  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  four  years'  course 
the  pupil  could  meet  its  entrance  examination?  If  so, 
why? 

13.  If  changes  were  made  in  the  work  of  the  school  so  that  it 

could  no  longer  serve  as  a  preparatory  school  for  college, 
what  would  be  the  effect  upon  the  attendance  of  the 
school?  What  per  cent  of  the  kind  of  pupils  now  at- 
tending would,  in  your  opinion,  cease  to  apply  for  ad- 
mission to  the  first  year's  work? 

14.  Are  you  of  the  opinion  that  the  typical  boy  now  attending 

the  school  wants  the  same  kind  of  a  general  education  as 
that  given  in  other  Boston  high  schools  with  some  man- 
ual training  in  addition? 

15.  If  the  school  should  set  up  as  its  aim  that  of  being  a  finish- 

ing school,  fitting  boys  "to  become  industry  wise"  in 
order  "that  they  may  enter  advantageously  as  non- 
commissioned officers  into  industry  on  its  business  and 
directive  side,"  do  you  believe: 

a.  That  there  would  be  a  field  for  its  service  sufficient  to 

justify  the  work  of  the  school?     Why? 

b.  That  there  would  be  an  attendance  sufficient  to  justify 

the  existence  of  the  school?     Why? 

c.  That  the  school  would  attract  pupils  of  any  kind  who 

do  not  at  the  present  time  attend  it?     Why? 

16.  Would  you  favor  the  establishment  of  a  part-time  or  co- 

operative scheme  for  the  after-training  by  the  school 
of  boys  who  had  gone  to  work? 


Appendix  L  12] 

17.  Has  any  effort  as  yet  been  made  by  the  school  to  do  this? 

18.  What  kind  of  a  part-time  scheme  would  you  favor,  if  any? 

a.  Would  you  favor  taking  boys  who  had  gone  to  work 

immediately  after  graduating  from  the  grammar 
school? 

b.  Would  you  favor  placing  boys  after  one  year  in  the  M. 

A.  H.  S.  who  leave  to  go  to  work,  and  bringing  them 
back  for  after-training  for  a  part  of  the  time  by 
the  school? 

c.  Would  you  favor  doing  this  with  boys  after  two  years 

in  the  school? 

d.  Would  you  favor  doing  this  with  boys  after  three  years 

in  the  school? 

e.  Would  you  favor  opening  the  shops  of  the  school  during 

the  summer  for  the  benefit  of  boys  who  could  be 
spared  during  the  summer  under  a  part  time  scheme? 

f .  Would  you  favor  opening  the  shops  on  Saturday  to  part- 

time  pupils  who  could  be  secured  by  a  co-operative 
arrangement? 

g.  Would  you  favor  any  or  all  of  the  following  allotments 

of  the  boys'  time  to  the  school: 

(1)  Alternate  weeks 

(2)  Alternate  days 

(3)  One  day  per  week 

(4)  One-half  day  per  week 

(5)  One-half  day  per  day 

19.  What  are  the  difficulties  or  limitations  to  be  met  in  carrying 

on  such  part-time  or  co-operative  training? 

20.  To  what  extent  do  you  believe  a  system  of  vocational  direc- 

tion and  placing  by  the  school  of  pupils  before  and  after 
graduation  in  places  of  the  kind  for  which  the  school  was 
preparing  them  would  attract  and  hold  the  boys  who 
were  seeking  such  preparation  for  such  places? 

II 
VOCATIONAL  DIRECTION  AND  PLACEMENT 

1.  Do  you  regard  the  M.  A.  H.  S.  as  a  general  or  a  vocational 

school? 

2.  If  it  is  a  general  high  school,  how  does  its  work  differ  from 

that  of  the  usual  general  high  school? 

a.  In  aim 

b.  In  kind  of  boy  dealt  with 


122       A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

o.  In  kind  of  training  given 

3.  If  it  is  a  vocational  school,  for  what  vocations  or  trades  or 

occupations  does  it  fit? 

4.  To  what  extent  do  the  vocations  for  which  the  school  fits 

determine  the  choice  of  the  school  by  the  boy? 

a.  Roughly,  what  per  cent  of  the  pupils  enter  the  voca- 

tions for  which  the  school  fits? 

(1)  Of  those  who  enter  

(2)  Of  those  who  graduate 

b.  Roughly,  what  per  cent   of   the  boys  who  enter  the 

school  want  a  general  education  with  some  manual 
training  in  addition?  

c.  Roughly  what  per  cent  of  the  boys  want  the  kind  of  a 

general  education  which  will  enable  them  to  attend 
college  at  its  close,  if  they  so  desire  at  that  time? 

d.  Roughly,  what  per  cent  of  the  boys  enter  the  school  with 

the  fixed  intention  of  attending  college? 

e.  Roughly,  how  many  boys  try  the  college  entrance  board's 

examinations?  

f.  Roughly,  what  per  cent  of  these  fail  to  pass  these  ex- 

aminations?   

g.  What  per  cent  of  the  pupils,  in  your  opinion,  enter  the 

school   with   any   definite   idea   or   choice   of   what 

calling  they  expect  to  follow?  

h.  What  per  cent  of  the  pupils,  in  your  opinion,  choose 
the  school  because  it  fits  for  the  callings  which  they 
want  to  follow? 

5.  How  is  the  choice  of  the  school  made  by  the  pupil? 

a.  Is  it  usually  made  without  any  consultation  with  school 

authorities?  

b.  Is  it  usually  made  with  the  aid  of  the  grammar  school 

master  or  teacher?  

(1)  What  explanation  or  description  of  the  work  of 
the  M.  A.  H.  S.,  if  any,  is  supplied  to  the  grammar 

school  principal  for  this  purpose?  

If  any  printed  or  typewritten  mat- 
ter is  supplied,  kindly  file  a  copy  of  it. 

(2)  Is  there  any  individual  conference  between  the 
grammar  school  authorities  and: 

(a.)  The  boy 

(b.)  The  parent 

(3)  What  facts  do  the  grammar  school  authorities  take 
into  consideration  before  advising  the  boy  to  at- 
tend the  M.  A.  H.  S.? 


Appendix  L  123 

c.  Is  it  usually  made  with  the  aid  of  the  principal  and 
teachers  of  the  M.  A.  H.  S.?  

(1)  If  not,  when  is  it  so  made?  

(2)  When   so    made,    is   there    conference    with    the 
parent?  

(3)  What  facts  do  you  take  into  consideration  before 
advising  the  boy  to  attend  the  M.  A.   H.   S.? 

(4)  In  past  years,  when  it  was  necessary  to  select 
from  an  excessive  number  of  applications,  was  the 
selection  based  upon  the  vocational  aim  of  the 
pupil  or  upon  his  grammar  school  record?  


6.  Are  any  members  of  the  M.  A.  H.  S.  specially  responsible  for 

vocational  direction  and  placing  of  the  boys  from  the 
school?  

7.  Is  this  person,  or  persons,  relieved  from  regular  school  duties 

to  any  extent  in  order  that  they  may  do  this  work?  


8.  How  much  time  are  they  able  to  give  to  it?  

9.  What  are  the  duties  of  these  vocational  assistants  or  directors? 

a.  Do  they  deal  with  the  boy  while  he  is  making  his  choice 

of  a  high  school? 

b.  Is  it  customary  for  boys  who  are  about  to  withdraw 

from  the  school  to  give  notice  some  time  in  advance 
of  the  fact  that  they  expect  to  quit? 

c.  Is  conference  held  with  these  boys  as  to  the  cause  of 

their  withdrawal  from  the  school  and  as  to  the  kind 
of  work  which  they  should  follow  after  leaving 
school? 

d.  Is  any  effort  made  to  place  these  boys  who  are  about  to 

quit  school  for  work  to  which  they  are  suited? 

e.  Is  their  conference,  at  the  close  of   each   school   year, 

with  the  boys  who  have  announced  their  intention  of 
not  returning  for  the  following  year,  with  a  view  to 
aiding  them  to  make  the  right  choice  of  work? 

f.  Is  conference  held  with  the  members  of  the  outgoing 

class  before  graduation  with  regard  to: 

(1)  The  choice  of  a  college  they  should  make  

(2)  The  choice  of  an  occupation  which  they  should 
enter 

g.  To  what  extent  does  the  school  make  an  effort  to  place 

boys  for  work  during  the  summer? 
(1)    Does  it  carry  a  register  of  boys  seeking  work? 


124      A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

(2)  Does  it  carry  a  register  of  business  men  desiring 
boys? 

(3)  Does  it  make  any  active  effort  to  find  positions 
for  boys,  in  addition  to  this  ? 

h.  To  what  extent  does  the  school  place  boys  in  positions 
after  graduation? 

(1)  Do  pupils,  upon  graduation,  register  for  positions? 

(2)  Is   a   register    carried    of   business   men    desiring 
graduates  of  the  school?  

(3)  Does  the  school  make  an  effort  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  business  men  and  manufacturers  in 
placing  students  in  positions? 

10.  Do  you  believe  that  the  school  ought  to  deal  more  extensively 

with  this  matter  of  directing  and  placing  pupils?  

11.  If  so,  what  would  you  recommend  in  addition  to  what  is 

now  being  done? 

12.  In  order  to  carry  out  the  suggestion  which  you  have  made, 

do  you  believe  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  school  to 
employ  in  its  faculty  one  teacher  who  gave  a  large  part 
or  all  of  his  time  to  this  task? 

13.  Are  the  different  years  of  the  course  of  the  school  arranged 

with  the  idea  that  each  is  a  preparation  for  the  year 
which  follows,  or  are  they  arranged  with  the  idea  that 
the  pupil,  upon  completing  each,  could,  if  he  left  school, 
carry  out  something  that  would  prove  of  definite  value 
to  him  in  the  vocation  for  which  he  seeks  preparation  or 
upon  which  he  is  likely  to  enter? 

14.  Do  you  believe  that,  by  the  same  course  of  study,  a  pupil 

can  be  equally  well  fitted  either  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  technical  college  or  to  go  out  into  such  vocations 
as  are  usually  followed  by  the  boys  who  leave  the  M.  A. 
H.  S.? 

Ill 

STUDY  AND  PROMOTION 

1.  On  what  basis  do  you  promote  the  boy? 

a.  Do  you  give  equal  weight  to  all  examination  marks  in 

all   subjects?  To   classroom  marks  in  all 

subjects? 

b.  If  not,  do  you  rate  marks  in  shop  work  as  being  equal 

to  marks  in  non-shop  work? 

c.  Do  you  promote  on  examination  marks  alone? 

d.  Do  you  promote  on  averages  of  classroom  marks  alone? 


Appendix  L  125 

e.  Do  you  promote  on  both? 

f.  If  so,  what  relative  weight  do  you  give  to  class  marks 

and  examination  marks? 

2.  Assuming  that  the  term  mark  is  made  up  on  basis  of  exam- 

ination marks  and  class  marks  in  each  subject,  what 
relative  weights  are  given  to  examination  mark  and 
class  mark  for  each  subject  and  as  between  subjects? 

When  an  instructor  in  your  school  makes  up  the  term  mark 
on  his  subject,  is  there  any  uniform  rule  as  to  the  relative 
value  of  the  examination  mark  and  the  classroom  aver- 
age which  is  followed  throughout  the  school? 
If  so,  what  is  it? 

If  the  school  promotes  on  the  average  of  term  marks  ob- 
tained in  various  subjects,  how  is  the  promotion  mark 
obtained? 

a.  Do  you  give  equal  weight  to  laboratory,   shop,   and 

academic  subjects? 

b.  If  not,  what  values  do  you  give  and  what  are  your 

reasons? 

3.  When  examinations  are  given  in  laboratory  and  shop  sub- 

jects, do  they  include  tests  of  manipulative  or  ability? 

4.  What  per  cent  of  the  pupils  dropping  out  of  your  school  do 

so  because  they  have  failed  or  about  to  fail  to  secure  a 
passing  mark? 

5.  What  is  the  subject  or  subjects  in  which  they  usually  fail? 

1st  year 3d  year 

2d  year 4th  year 

College  entrance  examination 

6.  What  are  the  causes  of  the  failures? 

a.  Was  it  due  to  unsatisfactory  teaching? 

b.  Was  it  due  to  unsatisfactory  teaching  conditions? 

c.  Was  it  due  to  inability  to  do  the  work? 

d.  Was  it  due  to  lack  of  application? 

e.  Was  it  due  to  insufficient  time  allotment? 

f.  Other  causes? 

7.  Do  your  instructors   complain  about   unsatisfactory   home 

study? 

8.  Are  these  complaints  more  marked  in  the  first,  second,  third, 

or  fourth  year  classes?  (Please  mark  as  1,  2,  3,  4, 

in  designating  degree,  the  years  in  which  complaints  were 
more  marked.) 

9.  In  your  fourth  year  do  you  get  more  home  study  and  better 

marks  out  of  the  college  or  non-college  group? 


126      A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

10.  Are  your  standards  the  same  for  both? 

11.  Do  you  promote  by  subject  or  by  years? 

12.  Are  pupils  required  to  repeat  the  year's  work? 

a.  If  they  fail  in  one  subject? 

b.  If  they  fail  in  two  subjects? 

c.  If  they  fail  in  three  subjects? 

d.  Are  pupils  required  to  repeat  unsatisfactory  shop  work? 

13.  How  are  delinquencies  in  the  work  of  the  school  removed? 

a.  Through  repetition  of  work? 

b.  Through  additional  coaching  by  teachers? 

c.  Through  summer  study? If  so  where? 

d.  Through  examinations 

14.  What  procedure  is  followed  when  pupils  fail? 

a.  Are  parents  notified? 

b.  Is  there  conference  with  the  pupil? With  the 

parent?  

c.  When  are  pupils  requested  to  withdraw  upon  failure? 

IV 

CHARACTER  OF  TRAINING 

1.  How  does  the  amount  of  time  given  in  classes  other  than  shop 

work  and  drawing  compare  with  that  given  by  such  a 
general  high  school  as  the  English  High  in: 

1st  year._ 3d  year 

2d  year 4th  year 

2.  In  order  to  graduate  from  the  M.  A.  H.  S.  is  it  necessary  for 

a  pupil  to  carry  a  foreign  language  successfully? 

In  what  years? 

3.  If  not,  what  other  subject  or  subjects  are  accepted  as  a  sub- 

stitute or  equivalent? 

4.  In  order  to  graduate,  is  it  necessary  for  a  pupil  to  carry  shop 

work  successfully? 

5.  If  not,  what  other  subject  or  subjects  are  accepted  as  a  sub- 

stitute or  equivalent? 

6.  How  many  different  courses  such  as  general  course,  college 

preparatory  course,  technical  institute  course,  industrial 
course,  etc.,  are  offered  by  the  school? 

7.  What  is  the  purpose  or  end  of  each  of  these  courses  described 

in  terms  of: 
a.  What  kind  of  boy  the  course  is  for? 


Appendix  L  127 

b.  What  kind  of  occupation  or  calling  in  general  he  ex- 

pects to  follow 

c.  What  the  course  is  expected  to  do  for  him 

d.  How  it  does  it? 

8.  What  is  the  difference  between  these  courses? 

a.  In  aim 

b.  In  method 

c.  In  content 

d.  In  type  of  pupil 

e.  In  amount  of  time  devoted  to  subjects  taught 

9.  How  are  the  pupils  assigned  to  these  different  courses? 

a.  Is  assignment  based  on  choice  of  pupil? 

b.  Is  this  the  result  of  consultation  with: 

(1)  Pupil    

(2)  Parent  or  guardian  

c.  Is  assignment  made  by  school  on  basis  of  pupil's  choice 

of  an  occupation  or  calling? 

d.  Is  it  made  on  basis  of  pupil's  comparative  interest  in 

book  work  or  shop  work? 

e.  Is  it  made  on  basis  of  the  pupil's  comparative  aptitude  in 

dealing  with  book  work  and  such  shop  work? 

f.  Is  it  made  on  basis  of  any  test  of  any  kind  such  as  a 

temporary  assignment  to  the  work  of  a  course? 

10.  If  it  becomes  clear  that,  for  any  reason,  a  pupil  is  not  fitted 

for  the  course  which  he  is  taking,  is  there  any  arrange- 
ment or  practice  whereby: 

a.  He  is  shifted  or  assigned  to  another  course 

b.  To  another  high  school 

11.  Is  this  shifting  or  new  assignment  the  result  of: 

a.  Conference  with  pupil 

b.  Conference  with  parent 

c.  Conference  with  headmaster  or  other  official  of  another 

school  

12.  To  what  extent  is  there  at  the  present  time  conference  or 

consultation  between  the  headmasters  of  the  Boston 
high  schools,  the  assistant  superintendents,  or  both, 
with  regard  to: 

a.  Entrance  requirements  of  different  high  schools 

b.  Distribution  of  pupils  among  these  high  schools  based 

on  such  considerations  as: 

(1)  Interest  of  pupil 

(2)  Probable  future  occupation  or  calling 


128      A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

(3)    Special  aptitude  or  ability  of  pupil 

c.  Interchange  of  pupils  between  schools 

d.  Field  of  service  to  be  met  by  each  high  school,  general 

or  special 

e.  Differences  in  aim  and  kind  of  training? '. 

13.  While  the  direct  aim  of  the  M.  A.  H.  S.  is  not  to  fit  for 

college,  is  the  pupil  who  has  taken  the  work  of  the  school 

able  to  meet  college  entrance  requirements? 

About  what  per  cent  are  able  to  do  this? — 

14.  Is  the  theory  of  the  school  in  general  that,  along  with  shop 

work  and  drawing,  a  general  course  of  training  is  being 
given  which  will  enable  the  pupil  upon  graduation 
either  to  go  to  college  or  start  advantageously  in  life, 
particularly  on  the  business  and  directive  side  of  industry? 

15.  Which  of  the  following  is  the  belief  or  theory  of  the  school; 

so  far  as  the  aim  of  the  pupil  is  concerned: 

a.  That  he  desires  a  general  education  with  some  manual 

training  in  addition? 

b.  That  he  desires  to  be  fitted  for  a  technical  or  other 

college? 

c.  That  he  desires  a  general  education  with  the  possibility 

of  electing  a  college  course  at  its  close? 

d.  That  he  desires  to  be  fitted  for  entrance  as  a  wage  earner 

in   such   trades   or   occupations   as   machinist,    car- 
penter, electrician,  patternmaker,  etc.? 

e.  That  he  desires  to  be  fitted  for  entrance  into  industry 

as  a  "non-commissioned  officer  on  its  business  or 
directive  side"?  

16.  What  are  the  differences  in  the  kind  of  training  other  than 

shop  work  and  drawing,  between  the  M.  A.  H.  S.  and 
other  general  high  schools  such  as  the  English  High? 

a.  Do  you  use  the  same  kind  of  text-books? 

b.  If  not,  what  in  general  is  the  difference  between  them? 

c.  Please  give  one  or  two  illustrations  of  this  difference. 

e.  If  not,  what  in  general  is  the  difference  in  method? 

f.  Please  give  one  or  two  illustrations  of  this  difference. 

17.  Is  it  possible  for  a  boy  to  shift  at  the  close  of  a  given  year 

from  the  M.  A.  H.  S.  to  another  Boston  high    school,  or 
vice  versa,  without  being  "set  back"  in  or  greatly  handi- 
caped  in  his  academic  work: 
1st  year „    2d  year 3d  year 


Appendix  L  129 

18.  What  is  the  number  and  the  per  cent  of  your  4th   year 

class  for  the  past  two  years  who  elected  not  to  take : 

a.  Shop  work 

b.  Shop  work  and  drawing 

19.  In  view  of  the  crowded  condition  of  your  school  and  the 

further  fact  that  such  pupils  were  confining  themselves 
practically  entirely  to  academic  work,  would  it  be  advis- 
able to  transfer  them  to  other  Boston  high  schools  for 
the  last  year's  work? Why? 

20.  Assuming  that  the  aim  of  the  school  is  or  may  become  that 

of  a  finishing  school  fitting  boys  "to  be  industry  wise, 
so  that  they  may  enter  advantageously  as  non-commis- 
sioned officers  of  industry  on  its  business  and  directive 
side,"  is  it  your  opinion  that  the  training  now  given  by 
the  school  is  best  calculated  on  the  whole  to  accomplish 
this  stated  aim? 

21.  What  is  the  reason  for  your  answer? 

22.  If  not,  what  changes  in  the  course  of  study  and  the  method 

of  teaching  would  you  make,  in  order  to  accomplish  it 
better? 

23.  In  order  to  accomplish  these  changes,  what  differences  or 

alterations  would  you  make  in  the  administrative  side  of 
the  work? 

a.  Would  it  be  necessary  to  reduce  the  number  in  the  in- 

coming first  year  or  Freshman  group?  

b.  Would  it  be  necessary  to  reduce  the  size  of  the  classes 

for  instruction  purposes : 

(1)  In  the  shop? 

(2)  In  the  classroom? 

c.  Would  it  be  necessary  to  purchase  additional  equipment? 

d.  Assuming  that  such  changes  as  you  suggest  would  be 

introduced  only  with  incoming  classes,  what  would 
be  your  estimate  of  the  additional  cost  by  years  of 
such  equipment? 

(1)  1912-13 1915-16 

(2)  1913-14 1916-17 

e.  Would  a  larger  teaching  force  be  required: 

(1)  If  size  of  classes  were  reduced  and  registration  be 
undiminished?  

(2)  If  size  of  classes  and  total  registration  were  re- 
duced?   

f.  Would  changes  in  your  teaching  force  be  necessary? 

If  so,  what?  


130     A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

g.  Would  you  have  to  change  the  character  of  your  teach- 
ing?     If    so, 

how?  

h.  Would  the  per  capita  cost  of  operating  the  school  be 
increased? 

(1)  Why?   

(2)  To  what  figure  (estimated)? 

24.  Would  you  favor  grouping  the  pupils  for  instruction  into 

two  groups,  one  fitting  for  college  and  one  fitting  for 
work  as  non-commissioned  officers  of  industry,  or  would 
you  favor  continuing  the  present  arrangement?  

25.  If  you  favored  grouping  as  suggested  in  question  No.  24, 

would  you  have  the  same  or  a  different  course  of  study 
for  each  group?  

26.  If  different  courses  of  study,  please  state  the  important 

differences  between  them?  

27.  Would  you  use  the  same  or  different  methods  of  instruc- 

tion?   

28.  If   different   methods   of   instruction,   what   would   be   the 

chief  difference  in  the  methods  used  in  training  the  college 
and  the  non-college  group?  

V 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  SHOP  WORK 

1.  How  much  time  is  given  to  shop  work? 

1st  year 3d  year 

2nd  year  ._ 4th  year  

2.  What  are  the  minimum  requirements  of  the  school  on  se- 

lecting instructors  for  shop  work  as  to 

a.  Academic  training 

b.  Technical  knowledge 

c.  Trade  experience 

3.  If  there  be  shop  assistants  to  the  instructors  what  are  the 

requirements  for  them  as  to 

a.  Academic  training 

b.  Technical  knowledge 

c.  Trade  experience 

4.  To  what  extent  do  your  shop  instructors  keep  up  with  present 

methods? 

5.  How  many  have  more  than  this  minimum  requirement  and 

how  much  more? 
a.  Shop  instructors 


Appendix  L  131 

b.  Shop  assistants 

6.  What  is  the  largest  number  of  pupils  in  a  shop  class? 

1st  year 3d  year 

2d  year  .„ 4th  year....._ 

7.  What  is  the  smallest  number  of  pupils  in  a  shop  class: 

1st  year 3d  year  __ 

2d  year _ 4th  year 

8.  What  is  the  maximum  number  of  pupils  per  shop  instructor 

that  in|  your  opinion  a  school  should  have? 

9.  Are  pupils  taught  their  shop  work  by  the  group  or  by  the 

individual  method? 

10.  Are  new  exercises  preceded  by  lecture  and  demonstration 

or  are  they  given  to  pupils  individually  with  individual 
instruction?     Do  all  pupils  in  a  given  class  work  on  the 
same  exercise  at  the  same  time? 
Which  of  these  two  do  you  regard  as  being  most  effective? 

11.  Is  an  effort  made  to  do  this  or  to  avoid  it? 

If  you  use  the  group  method  of  teaching,  please  give  the 
reason: 

a.  Because  the  method  is  best  as  a  means  of  teaching 

b.  Because  the  class  is  too  large  to  be  handled  otherwise 

c.  Because  the  equipment  is  best  adapted  to  the  group 
method  of  teaching  

d.  Because  otherwise  too  much  material  would  be  spoiled 

e.  Because  best  results  are  obtained  after  careful  prelim- 

inary direction  to  the  group 

f.  Because  immature  boys  learn  best  by  imitation  

12.  What  is  done  with  the  output  of  the  shops  of  the  school? 
a    Who  pays  for  the  material  used? 

b.  Does  the  pupil  take  home  what  he  makes? 

c.  Does  the  shop  make  things  for  the  school?  To  what 

extent? 

d.  To  what  extent  has  the  school  made  its  own  additional 

equipment  from  time  to  time  or  its  own  construction 
or  alteration  in  plant  if  any? 

e.  Has  any  of  the  output  of  the  shops  been  sold? 

13.  What  are  the  objections  as  you  see  them  to  the  individual 

method  of  shop  instruction  in  your  school? 

14.  If  the  boy  is  to  be  made  acquainted  as  much  as  possible 

with  industry  so  that  along  with  other  things  he  is  to  go 
out   "industry-wise,   having  a  consumer's  or  director's 


132      A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

knowledge  of  tools,  machinery,  materials,  processes, 
workmanship,  output,  shop  problems  and  difficulties,  and 
industrial  economics/'  what  changes  if  any,  would  you 
make  in  the  present  shop  work  in  order  better  to  ac- 
complish this  end? 

a.  Would  you  increase  the  amount  of  time  given  to  the 

shop  work?     If  so,  how  much? 

b.  Would  you  reduce  the  number  of  pupils  per  shop  in- 

structor? 

c.  Would  you  operate  the  shop  on  an  exercise  or  a  pro- 

ductive basis? 

d.  Would  you  have  pupils  make  things  to  take  home  or 

would  you  have  them  make  things  to  be  utilized  in 
the  M.  A.  H.  S.  or  other  high  schools  or  sold  on  the 
market? 

e.  Would  you  have  pupils  draw  what  they  make  and  make 

what  they  draw? 

f .  Would  you  have  them  calculate  the  amount  of  dimension 

stock  required  on  their  work,  its  cost,  the  amount 
and  value  of  their  own  time,  and  the  value  of  the 
finished  article? 

g.  Would  you  lay  the  emphasis  on  the  job  and  the  output 

or  on  the  exercise  and  process  which  the  pupil  per- 
forms in  making  an  article? 

15.  To  what  extent  has  the  school  brought  its  pupils  through 

visitation  of  outside  shops  and  the  talks  of  successful 
manufacturers,  foremen,  and  workmen  into  contact  with 
the  industrial  activities  of  Boston? 

16.  Do  you  believe  this  should  be  done? 
If  so  how  would  you  accomplish  it? 

17.  How,  if  at  all,  is  the  drawing  work  connected  with  the  shop 

work? 

a.  Are  drawings  made  of  the  objects  or  projects  made  in 

the  shop  by  the  boys  who  make  them? 

b.  Are  drawings  made  for  other  boys  to  use  in  the  shop? 

c.  To  what  extent  do  boys  work  from  blue  prints  of  draw- 

ings made  by  others? 

(1)  First  year 

(2)  Second  year 

(3)  Third  year 

(4)  Fourth  year 

d.  Are  all  the  drawings  made  in  the  drawing  room  or  are 

some  of  them  made  on  the  shop  floor  as  shop 
sketches? 


Appendix  L  133 

e.  If  drawings  are  made  for  the  shops,   who  takes  the 

responsibility  for  the  checking  of  these  drawings? 

(1)  The  shop  instructor 

(2)  The  drawing  room  instructor 

f.  Who  decides  on  what  kind  of  drawings  and  what  kind  of 

projects  shall  be  made  in  the  different  shops? 

(1)  The  individual  teachers 

(2)  The  principal  of  the  school 

(3)  The  head  of  the  department 

g.  Are  drawings  made  in  order  to  create  exercises  in  the 

shop  or  are  exercises  in  the  shop  given  to  provide 
work  in  drawing? 

h.  What  are  the  difficulties  to  be  met  in  having  the  draw- 
ing serve  the  shop  work  and  the  shop  work  serve  the 
drawing? 

i.  Is  it  feasible  to  closely  connect  the  work  of  the  shop  and 
the  drawing  rooms  and  can  one  be  made  to  serve  the 
other  better? 

j.   What  suggestions  have  you  to  make  in  doing  this? 

18.  What  is  the  aim  of  your  shop  work? 

a.  Is  the  aim  fine  technique  and  workmanship? 

b.  Is  it  the  plan  to  have  a  boy  make  a  few  things  and  make 

them  very  well  or  to  make  a  large  number  of  things 
in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  boy  a  larger  experience 
and  insight  into  shop  method  and  processes. 

c.  Can  both  of  these  things  be  done  in  the  time  at  your 

disposal? 

d.  If  time  is  too  short,  where,  in  your  opinion,  should  the 

emphasis  be  laid  between  these  two  aims? 

19.  How  many  different  pupils  do  your  head  shop  instructors 

deal  with  in  a  week's  time? 

a.  The  largest  number 

b.  The  smallest  number 

20.  Will  you  kindly  furnish  a  list,  which  can  easily  be  secured 

from  the  head  shop  instructors,  of  the  things  which  the 
boys  have  made  this  school  year  in  the  first  year,  second 
year,  third  year,  and  fourth  year? 

21.  At  the  same  time  will  you  kindly  find  out  from  these  in- 

structors the  total  number  of  each  thing  made? 

22.  What  is  the  purpose  of  the  shop  work  in  the  school? 

a.  To  furnish  manual  training  as  a  part  of  a  general  educa- 

tion. 

b.  To  attract  and  hold  boys  who  would  otherwise  not  take 

a  secondary  school  course. 


134      A  Study  of  the  Boston  Mechanic  Arts  High  School 

c.  To  give  needed  and  helpful  preparation  for  technical 
college  training  to  follow. 

e.  To  develop  the  mind  through  the  training  of  the  hand, 

f.  To  help  boys  carry  on  their  book  work  better, 

VI 

THE  DRAWING 

1.  What  is  the  length  of  time  devoted  to  free-hand  drawing? 

a.  First  year  c.  Third  year 

b.  Second  year  d.  Fourth  year 

2.  What  is  the  length  of  time  devoted  to  machine  drawing? 

a.  First  year  c.  Third  year 

b.  Second  year  d.  Fourth  year 

3.  What  is  the  length  of  time  given  to  architectural  drawing? 

a.  First  year  c.  Third  year 

b.  Second  year  d.  Fourth  year 

4.  What  is  the  smallest  amount  of  industrial  experience  that 

is  considered  necessary  for  the  teacher  of  each  of  these 
lines? 

6.  In  general,  how  many  of  these  instructors  in  drawing  have 
had  more  than  this  minimum  requirement  in  practical 
experience? 

6.  How  long  have  these  instructors  been  out  of  the  trade? 

7.  What  method  is  pursued  to  have  them  keep  in  touch  with 

commercial  practices? 

8.  Is  the  same  preliminary  course  given  for  each  line  of  work, 

free-hand,  machine,  and  architectural  drafting? 

9.  Is  the  beginning  work  in  drawing  the  same  for  all  boys? 

10.  At  what  point  in  the  course  do  boys  begin  to  specialize  in 

the  different  kinds  of  drawing  offered  by  the  school? 

11.  Are  these  different  kinds  of  drawing  taught  in  different 

classes  to  different  boys  or  are  they  taught  in  the  same 
class  to  the  same  boys? 

12.  Kindly  send  instruction  sheets,  exercise  book,  or  text,  to- 

gether with  the  sheets  of  drawings,  tracings,  and  blue 
prints  made  by  the  pupils  during  the  last  school  year, 
a.  In  the  first  year,  second  year,  third  year,  and  fourth 
year  of  the  work. 

13.  Kindly   indicate   on  each   sheet   the   probable   number   of 

copies  made  by  the  pupil  of  each  kind. 


VITA 

CHARLES  A.  PROSSEK,  born,  New  Albany,  Ind.,  September  20,  1871. 

A.B.,  DePauw  University,  1897;  A.M.,  1906.  B.L.,  University  of  Louis- 
ville, 1898.  A.M.,  Hanover  College,  Hanover,  Ind.,  (honorary)  1903.  Grad- 
uate student,  Columbia  University,  1909-10  and  1910-11.  Graduate  stu- 
dent, New  York  School  of  Philanthropy,  1909-10. 

Superintendent,  Mailing  Dept.,  Post  Office,  New  Albany,  Ind.,  1908-09, 

Instructor  in  Science,  New  Albany,  Ind.,  1899-1908. 

Superintendent  of  Schools,  New  Albany,  Ind.,  1900-1908. 

Judge,  Juvenile  Court,  New  Albany,  Ind.,  1904-08. 

Superintendent  of  Schools,  Children's  Aid  Society,  New  York,  1909-10.     . 

Deputy  Commissioner  for  Vocational  Education  for  Massachusetts,  1910- 
12. 

Secretary,  National  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Education, 
1912-15. 

Special  Investigator,  Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  Boston,  1913-14. 

Member  of  National  Commission  on  Federal  Aid  to  Vocational  Education, 
1914. 

Lecturer,  Columbia  University,  1914-15. 

Member  of  Special  Committee  on  Vocational  Survey  for  Richmond,  1914, 

Lecturer,  Harvard  Summer  School,  1914. 

Director,  Minneapolis  Educational  Survey,  1915. 

Director,  Dunwoody  Industrial  Institute,  Minneapolis,  1915 — 

Special  Lecturer,  University  of  Minnesota,  1915 — • 

Member,  National  Censorship  Board  of  Moving  Pictures,  New  York 
Cty,  1909-10.  Member,  National  Censorship  Board  for  Moving  Pictures,. 
1914.  Member,  National  Committee  on  Federal  Constitution.  Member, 
Special  Committee  on  Vocational  Education,  National  Education  Associa- 
tion, 1913-15.  Member,  Board  of  Trustees,  Italian  American  Society, 
1910-11.  Member,  Advisory  Board,  Vocation  Bureau,  Boston. 

Contributing  editor  to  the  following  publications:  Bulletins  of  U.  S.  Bureau 
of  Education;  Bulletins  of  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics;  Manual  Arts  and 
Vocational  Education  Magazine;  Educational  Administration  and  Supervi- 
sion. 

General  editor,  American  Book  Company,  Vocational  Education  series, 
1915. 

WRITINGS 

Report  on  Revision  of  Course  of  Studies  for  Indiana  Schools. 

Report  on  Teachers'  Pensions,  Indiana  Schools. 

The  New  Harmony  Movement,  in  collaboration  with  Geo.  B.  Lockwood. 

The  Teacher  and  Old  Age,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  1913. 

Legislation  on  Vocational  Education,  in  collaboration  with  Wesley  A. 


O'Leary,  to  be  published  by  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education. 

Study  of  the  Dress  and  Waist  Industry  for  the  Purpose  of  Industrial  Edu- 
cation, in  collaboration  with  Cleo  Murtland,  Bulletin  of  U.  S.  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics,  1915. 

Short  Unit  Courses  for  Wage  Earners,  in  collaboration  with  Wesley  A. 
O'Leary,  Bulletin  of  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  No.  159,  1915. 

Assisted  in  the  writing  of  legislation  upon  vocational  education  for  Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  Vir- 
ginia, Missouri. 

The  Training  of  the  Factory  Worker,  1912. 

Practical  Arts  and  Vocational  Guidance. 

The  Place  of  Art  in  Industrial  Education. 

Vocational  Education  Legislation,  1910-11  and  1912-13. 

Legislation  upon  Industrial  Education  in  the  United  States,  in  collabora- 
tion with  Dr.  Edw.  C.  Elliott,  University  of  Wisconsin,  [Bulletin  No.  12  of 
the  National  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Education,  1910. 

Why  Federal  Aid  to  Industrial  Education. 

Report  of  National  Commission  on  Federal  Aid  to  Vocational  Education, 
Vol.  I  containing  body  of  report  written  by  C.  A.  Prosser,  as  a  member  of  the 
Commission. 

Report  on  Mechanic  Arts  High  School,  Boston,  1913-14. 

The  Place  of  Art  in  Industry. 

The  Evolution  of  the  Training  of  the  Worker  in  Industry,  1915. 


DATE  DUE 


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